The End of a New Life
by MyKonstantine
Summary: After years of fighting and suffering, Hermione finally has a new, peaceful life. Will her life suddenly be changed by a letter that could prove itself deadly? Who will save her?
1. Decree Dilemma

A/N: Wow! It's been a long time since I've written a story, but I have lots of more time here in college. I've pre-written a bit of this story so it will get out quicker. Hopefully you wonderful people will respond as well to this fic as you did to my last! Also, I'm not a great self-editor, so are there any interested betas in the crowd? Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, you fools! If I did, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction!

FYI: This is written for a marriage law challenge! Yes, it is one of those fics, but with some action and adventure a little further in!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Rated T for slight sexual references, swearing, and violence.

Chapter 1: Decree Dilemma

Hermione Granger awoke lazily from a long slumber. Since the end of the war, the nights when she truly slept well were few and far between. Even now, almost two years later, she still was startled awake by vicious nightmares that quite often left her in a cold sweat.

Even as she lay in her own bed in her own flat, it took time for her to process that she was not in a hospital bed in St. Mungo's, where she'd most of her time after Harry had destroyed the Dark Lord. The only one of the trio who had been seriously injured was Harry himself, but he had been healed in a matter of weeks.

The only reason they had been kept so long was so that fool of a Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, could run tests on the trio. The Ministry simply didn't believe that Voldemort's powers lay within horcruxes. They concluded that only magical phenomena could destroy the most evil wizard in the world, and the phenomena must be Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Thus a few weeks of healing and resting became ten restless months of magical poking and prodding in a room that was impossible to leave ("There are still Death Eaters out there who want you dead!" Scrimgeour told Hermione when she had objected. "We have to keep you and the others separate and under tight security!") The only moments Hermione had seen Harry and Ron during those months was when they were escorted by Aurors to test areas together.

A chill went up her spine when she thought of it now. It was all the ministry's cruel way of getting back at them for refusing to co-operate during the war.

But she was home now. She could smell the fresh morning air seeping in from the fairly woodsy neighborhood outside. She could see Crookshanks lazily bat at the sleeve of a jumper she'd left hanging on a chair the night before. Downstairs, a strange popping noise was followed by a noisy CRASH!

It took Hermione a moment to process that this was not part of a normal morning routine.

"What the bloody…" Hermione whispered to herself as she quietly lifted herself out of bed. Crookshanks also stood attentively as Hermione reached on to the bedside table to gather her wand.

BANG! Whoever was in her flat wasn't even attempting to be quiet. Perhaps they were just foolish. Or perhaps they were strategic. Was somebody trying to lure downstairs?

After a few moments, Hermione decided that she needed to investigate. Somebody may be waiting to attach her downstairs, but she had learned to fight through fear long ago.

"Watch your step." She mumbled to herself as she tiptoed down the stairs. "Stay light on your feet." Reviewing these fighting tactics never really calmed her horrid nerves, but she always used them anyway. "Wand at the ready."

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, a flash of blue light came from the left. Somebody was in her kitchen.

Hermione threw her body around the corner and roared "Immobilus!" She hadn't even taken the time to look at who she was freezing, and now she felt like a complete git.

Ronald Weasley stood perfectly frozen next to Hermione's refrigerator with a bottle of milk still held up to his lips.

"Oh hell!" Hermione groaned before pointing her wand at Ron to make him mobile once again.

Ron's body slammed down the milk bottle and turned straight towards her. "Merlin, Hermione! Do you immobilize every bloke that comes into your flat, or am I just lucky?"

"It's nine o'clock in the morning!" Hermione waved her hands up in exasperation. "You barged into my home uninvited and unexpected!"

"It's nine thirty, actually." Ron let out a heavy sigh. "And I did not barge into your house! Harry and I ran out of milk at our place, so I just came to borrow some."

Hermione let out a snort. "You and the milk made an awful racket!"

"Well, that's because I spilled a bit." Ron's arms gestured towards the area of the floor directly in front of him. "When I went to get my wand to clean it, I slipped and fell against the counter."

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, easing up on the fact that one of her best friends had just broken into her home.

Ron shrugged. "Hit my head on the corner. No big deal."

"Here. Let me see it." Hermione slowly made her way toward Ron, outstretching an arm toward his head. Ron was quick to retreat. "I'm fine, Hermione!"

"Just let me look at it!" At these words, Ron went to step back again, but Hermione leaped forward and latched her hands on to the back of his head. While he sat disgruntled, Hermione carefully observed every inch of scalp beneath Ron's ginger hair. After a minute she noticed a small but bleeding gash. "Ron, stand up straight so I can heal this properly."

Ron spun around with such a force that he almost lost his balance. "No bloody healing a little scratch! It's not going to bloody well kill me!"

Hermione pointed her wand up a Ron's head. "I could immobilize you again first, if you'd prefer."

"Hermioooonneeee!" Ron whined as he slowly gave in and showed Hermione the back of his head once more. "This is not necessary."

However, Ron received no answer from Hermione. All he got was a strange tingling sensation beneath his hair follicles. Hermione felt quite smug. She always did when she got her way in a debate with Ron.

Her swarm of pride didn't last too long. An odd rapping noise on the window next where she stood with Ron changed all that. Hermione immediately moved to let in the large tawny owl that stood at full attention on her window sill.

"Whose post owl is that?" Ron questioned as it entered.

Hermione detached the letter from the owl's scrawny leg and it promptly flew back into the morning sunshine. A chill ran up her spine. She stared at the return address so long that her eyes began to blur and water. Then her focus moved to the word stamped across the envelope in large red letters: URGENT.

"Who's it from?" Ron's interrogation continued, now with a strain of worry in his voice.

"Scrimgeour. Apparently it's urgent."

All was silent on Ron's end. Hermione thought this would comfort her, but instead it made her even more anxious.

The letter was slammed down on the table so hard that the slapping noise echoed sharply throughout the flat. "I'm not opening it!" Hermione declared. "No bloody way am I doing this again!"

Ron didn't seem too taken aback by Hermione's outburst. She knew that Ron could understand where her rage was coming from. Still, her better judgment was not working normally, and he realized that as well.

"This is the Ministry!" He reminded her with a cautious tone of voice. "You can't just ignore them. You could be fined, maybe arrested."

Hermione let out a deep sigh. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

Ron slid his hand through his hair in anxiety, trying to think of a solution to this dilemma. "If you got a letter, Harry and I must have too." He postulated. "Let's got back to my flat and the three of us will open the letters together."

It was not the ingenious solution Hermione had been hoping for, but it was something. At least she would be in the same situation as Ron and Harry.

"Okay." She agreed. "Wait here."

A baffled look covered Ron's freckled face as Hermione turned away. "Wait here? Why am I waiting here? I thought we were going to my flat!"

"I am not going anywhere in my pajamas." Hermione protested.

"It's not like we've never seen you in your damn pajamas before." Ron groaned. "If you want to figure this out so badly, just hurry up."

Hermione walked over to Ron again, snatching up the letter as she went. "Fine! Let's go to your flat. If Harry doubles over because I'm still in my pajamas, I will hex you into the next century!"

She apparated into a very familiar home without another word. The satisfying 'POP' that she heard just after informed her that Ron had done the same.

The flat was a fair size but poorly cared for. A pile of dishes lay in the sink unwashed and letting off a strange odor. Numerous papers and small gadgets covered the countertops and table space. There were a few plants in the midst, but they looked quite dreary. This flat was so obviously owned by men.

"That is not milk, mate." A confused voice rang out from the table across the room. Harry peered curiously over his round glasses at Hermione, who he obviously hadn't expected to see so early in the morning.

"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "why are you still in your paj-"

Ron waving his hands frantically behind Hermione made Harry stop mid-sentence. What Ron didn't know was that Hermione could see him out of the corner of her eye. It became increasingly difficult to hold back a smirk of defeat as the seconds ticked by.

"I mean, what are you doing here so early?" The green-eyed man amended quickly. "It's the weekend; you should be having a lie-in."

Ron walked to the table and began to search among the chaos that lay upon it. "Did we get the post yet?"

"Yeah." Harry said quite casually. Then his ears suddenly perked up as if he'd remembered something of utmost importance. "Pig came back with the Cannons ticket for the game against the Wasps, if that's what you're looking for."

As Harry dug through a small pile, Ron looked back at Hermione with an odd look on his face. Hermione couldn't tell if it was fear, sadness, or Ron's primal need to protect others that gave him an expression that was fierce yet comforting at the same time.

"You mean you never got anything from the Ministry?" Hermione said in what was almost a whisper.

Harry's reaction to these words was not surprising. His bright green eyes glared at Hermione as his face covered itself in a rosy blush. His fists clenched and his muscles became rigid where he sat. "Why the fuck would the Ministry of Magic dare send Ron or me a letter? They know what we think of them."

"Well, they sent me a letter. An important letter." Hermione lifted the envelope in the air so Harry could read it properly. He beckoned her over to the table, where she opted to sit down with Ron and Harry.

"Hermione, you need to open it or get rid of it." Ron declared after his short period of silence. "If you want, I'll get rid of it so you're not in any trouble. I could give less of a damn what the Ministry thinks about me."

Hermione seriously contemplated this for a moment, but she knew in her heart that she'd never put Ron in the path of prospective danger by choice. Plus, this probably wasn't that urgent at all. What the Ministry considered 'urgent' was probably a simple trifle to her. After all, she was one of the best witches of her time.

"No." Hermione resolved. "No, I have to just open it." She took the letter back from Harry and began to tear at the seam, reassuring herself aloud. "I doubt it's really anything of importance."

Dear Miss Hermione Granger,

In the days of Lord Voldemort's reign, muggles, muggleborn and half-blood wizards and witches alike were threatened by prejudice and violence. During the war, many brave and strong wizards and witches of all types fought and died to protect our world from such hatred.

However, it still exists to this day. Voldemort's followers have proven themselves to be worthy opponents to the Ministry of Magic's elite Auror force. Hate crimes are still carried out regularly against those witches and wizards with muggle heritage. Now, the Ministry has taken action that will stop predators from categorizing and preying on people like you.

By order of Ministry decree 4865, all witches and wizards with at least one-half muggle lineage must find a pureblood partner with which to be wed to within the next six months. If not, the Ministry will present the witch of wizard with a series of fines and a brief sentencing in Azkaban prison before they are presented with a partner at random. This decree allows the Ministry to list all muggleborns and half-bloods as part of a pureblood family, seriously decreasing their risk of being tracked down by anti-muggle criminals.

Since you are considered a special interest case, we ask that you marry within four months rather than six before Ministry repercussions begin. Please understand that this is for your on safety and well-being.

Sincerely,

Rufus Scrimgeour

Hermione tried to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes and she carefully folded up the letter and placed it back into the envelope. Ron's concerned voice asking "What was that all about?" sounded distant and cold. The world was slipping away from her. Her senses were just out of her reach. She said the only words she could get out.

"It's all over. My life is over."

* * *

So how'd you like it? Was it a bad start? Were the characters believable?

If you review, I'd give you a cookie, but I'm a poor college girl who has no cookies. So you know what that means.

POP TARTS AND RAMEN NOODLES FOR ALL!

Please review, darlings!


	2. Fighting the Power

Cappygal116- Much love for the first reviewer! I'm glad you're interested in the plot and I promise you this story is definitely going places.

quidditch7- It always makes me feel so special when I know I'm on someone's author alert.  Thank you so much! I try to keep all my stories humorous because I think it's important to have humor even in the hardest times of your life. There will definitely be more romance in this piece than my others. I hope you like that!

IsabellaPaige- The good start will only get better! I'm trying to update about once a week for this story, so keep an eye out for it!

BuckNC- Honestly, that hurt. That hurt a lot. I didn't think I needed to post this, but I did on the main page just for people like you anyway. I'm writing this story as part of a marriage law challenge for a Harry Potter group I'm in. I just decided it would be nice to publish it here. There will be no "Draco Malfoy AU crap." I am sensible and I have been to Europe, but I don't think it's as easy as Hermione just packing up and leaving behind everything she knows and loves. I'm not going to just scratch the story. It hasn't all been done before. Not everyone writes the same exact thing. I find it very inconsiderate that you underestimate the time and effort I put into this piece just because you think it lacks originality. Every author has the right to dabble in popular genres as they wish, and I shouldn't have to defend that. Yet here I am doing that. For a fan who wants me to respect them, that wasn't very respectful. This will be the only marriage law fic I do. So, quite simply, if you don't like it, just don't read it. 

Violet snicket- I'm really glad you like the story! I'm a big Ron fan too. I hope he's in character well, because that's what I try for.

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 2: Fighting the Power

The clamor that surrounded an old broken telephone booth in central London astonished most people who saw the sight. The dreary corner that many normal folks walked by every single day was flooded with unusual characters. Some were wearing colorful cloaks, but almost all of them had a piece of parchment clenched in their fist. They obviously had to inform the police or a nosy neighbor of this in order to receive a decent explanation. The worst part of it all was the strange feeling that they were being watched.

"Obliviate!" A voice rang out on the street from behind a group of muggles.

Hermione caught the sight just as she rounded the corner toward the Ministry. Despite its obviousness, she still questioned the Auror performing the memory modification. "What are you doing?"

"They catch on too quick, these muggles." The gruff man replied quickly. "These members of the wizarding community are causing absolute chaos! I've been modifying the muggles' memories all day! They think it's a protest against building new offices in the area or some rubbish like that."

Hermione almost felt bad for the Auror who certainly had his work cut out for him. Then she remembered exactly why the witches and wizards outside the Ministry were protesting, and suddenly she didn't feel so bad anymore. In fact, the sympathy froze into a hardened shell of anger and resentment.

She had come to the Ministry by foot. Ron had traveled by route of floo powder. Harry apparated directly into the Ministry, simply because his status allowed him to do so. One of them was bound to track down the Minister of Magic himself.

Jostling through the crowd was harder than Hermione had expected it to be. The men and women before her showed serious signs of aggression, though no violence had broken out yet. The machine that allowed civilians access into the Ministry was guarded by an Auror, but she didn't have to do much. The authorization machine within the mangy telephone booth repeated "I'm sorry, but you are not a Ministry of Magic employee and do not have authorized access to the Ministry of Magic at this time. Please come back another day when authorization is given."

Cutting in toward the telephone booth as an old woman with curly locks of gray hair exited, Hermione knew this was one battle she may never win.

"My name is Hermione Granger." She told the machine with as much authority as she could possibly muster. "I'm here to speak to the Minister about an urgent matter."

Much to her surprise, the machine accepted her name without any protest. A shiny silver badge came out with the words "Hermione Granger, Special Interest Consultant" written clearly on it.

Consultant? Hermione wasn't quite sure why she was being considered a consultant, but it didn't matter. As the Auror held back the massive crowd that tried to enter the Ministry of Magic with Hermione, she realized that she was on a mission. She had to be able to do something.

Hermione marched through the Ministry with such authority she scared the Ministry officials that walked by. A distinguished witch with such anger was an omen of trouble and chaos, especially in the case of Hermione Granger. Even the tables and decorations leapt out of her way as she passed.

The only thing that wasn't afraid of Hermione was a small piece of parchment that fluttered in her face with no avail. She tried to ignore it, but the note was obviously sent for her. At lightning speed, her hand went up and squeezed the parchment in her palm. It let out a squelching noise, then a sigh of relief as she opened it.

Dear Miss Granger,

We've been expecting you for some time now. You know where my office is, so I kindly ask that you go there immediately to discuss the issue at hand.

Thank you,

Rufus Scrimgeour

Hermione tossed the note over her shoulder carelessly. The Minister had to know she was going to his office all along. Why else would she be there? Was he stalling?

It was the fastest Hermione had ever managed to walk to the Minister's office. Even after the defeat of Voldemort and his horcruxes, Hermione had walked to the office slowly and silently. Now she was vivacious and energetic for her cause.

She opened the door without so much as a knock, but she was the one who was surprised by what was inside the Minister's office.

Harry and Ron already sat in the office with anxious looks on their face. Apparently, the Ministry willingly embraced the presence of all three of them. However, the two men had a different title on their badge. They were entitled "Ministry Guest."

Rufus Scrimgeour sat behind his desk looking calm and smug. Hermione was tempted to wallop that look right off his face.

"Miss Granger! Welcome back!" The Minister put on a wide smile and raised his arms in greeting. This only annoyed Hermione more than she had been before. "I'm hoping you've come to discuss the new decree?"

Hermione wasn't in the mood for the Minister's perpetual perkiness. She felt queasy, like she had been sailing in choppy waters for years. Her head was about to explode. Her eyes were stingy and watery. She wanted nothing more than to scream in the Minister's face, but she was beaten to the punch.

"Discuss?" Ron bellowed. "Discuss? How dare you ruin the life of so many people and then ask Hermione to have a bloody chat about it with you!"

Scrimgeour looked absolutely appalled. "We're not ruining lives, my boy! We're saving them!" He explained. "By marrying a pureblood, the magical muggle population is much safer than if they maintained their original status. It also prevents their future generations from harm."

"Future generations? Nobody said anything about future generations!"

"That is optional, of course." The Minister answered quickly. "But think of Mr. Potter here." Harry let out a soft growl to show his resentment of being used as an example. The Minister ignored it. "Harry's mother was much safer from those who sought out muggleborns once she married into an accomplished pureblood family, and her only child's pureblood safety helped him liberate the magical world!"

"If you don't recall," Harry snapped out of his silence. "My mum is dead despite her marriage's 'protection' and I'm at the top of every Death Eater's hit list."

Scrimgeour shrugged. "That, my boy, is because of your participation in the war, not your blood status. We can't control your choices."

"You can't control our blood status either!" Hermione finally let loose, her voice echoing in the short silence that followed. "It's unethical! And you have NO right to bring Harry's family into this!"

"The governors agree that this is the only way to protect our people. The decree is a temporary action to keep us all safe and there's no changing that for the time being."

"I'm not letting you do this!" Hermione declared. "I'll go before the governors, The Wizengamot, and every office in the Ministry if I have to."

Scrimgeour looked at Hermione with a glint in his eye that was not helpful or reassuring. In fact, it was oppressive. "Well then, you'll have to take it up with them. I am of no use to you."

The Minister moved out of his chair and opened the door, waiting for the trio to exit. It wasn't until Hermione, the last of the three to pass through the threshold moved by him that Scrimgeour added "I'll see you in four months, Miss Granger, whether it be to sign your marriage license or take legal action. Good day."

Hermione could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she walked toward the Ministry's main hall. All those people outside were counting on her to find a way around this law, but she didn't. She couldn't even save herself from its clutches.

"What now?" Harry asked Hermione. He was angry, yet trying to be gentle at the same time. He was depressed, but he forced himself to remain optimistic. Hermione's respect for Harry's complex being was the only thing that stopped her from pitching a fit in Ministry headquarters.

"Home." Hermione whispered. "I want to go home."

The three opted to travel to Hermione's by floo powder in order to avoid the raging crowds outside. It was now late afternoon, and the light from the sunset entering Hermione's flat gave it an eerie, inviting glow. Suddenly it felt much easier for Hermione to breathe and think and move all at once.

She threw herself down into a chair and out her head in her hands, breathing in the musky air. The silence around her was stunning, but she could hear feet moving toward her.

"Should we leave?" Ron's most comforting voice inquired from across the table.

"No!" Hermione blurted out. Her cheeks reddened quickly. "That is, unless you don't want to stay. I completely understand if you have things to do for work or something of the sort."

Hermione tried to act as normal as possible, but she knew Ron had seen the fear and anguish in her eyes when she had thought about Ron and Harry leaving her at a time like this.

"I dunno." Said Harry, whose nerves had left him staring at the ground through most of their conversation. "I expect you'd want to be alone at a time like this."

"Nonsense! All our Hermione needs is a little pick me up!" Ron's voice was unusually cheery as his searched through Hermione's cabinets as if they were his own.

Ron couldn't seem to find what he wanted, so with a quick "I'll be right back!" he apparated away. Hermione and Harry barely had time to exchange confused looks before Ron was back again with a bottle of Mulled Mead and a bottle of Firewhiskey.

Harry let out a laugh. Hermione let out a groan. "Ron, you know I don't drink. It's foul and self-depreciating."

"Or, in the right amounts," Ron began before taking a shot of Firewhiskey straight from the bottle, shaking it off, and continuing, "it's a lovely way to cheer you up!"

Harry didn't need to be convinced. Before Ron had even managed to put down the Firewhiskey bottle, Harry was pouring himself a glass of Mulled Mead. Hermione gave him an exasperated look.

"What? We're all friends here." He took a large gulp. "It's just a friendly drink."

"A drink or two won't kill you, 'Mione." Ron gave her a warm smile and slid a mixture of Firewhiskey and pumpkin juice across the table toward her.

She didn't want to drink. She hadn't had a drink since the celebration after the war. In fact, that was the only time she'd ever had liquor. But now Ron as staring at her with puppy dog eyes and his adorable red hair was sticking up all over the place as he waited for her response. One drink couldn't hurt.

The mixture went down her throat with an oddly satisfying burn. "Well, it's better than polyjuice potion."

Hermione wouldn't admit that she actually liked what Ron had given her, but her non-descriptive answer seemed to be enough to appease him.

She felt unusually strong now, not because she could help the wizarding world or even because she was in the company of her best friends, but because the drink didn't have any effect on her. When she was finished with it, she felt absolutely fine. One more drink couldn't hurt.

A few minutes later, Hermione was finished with that drink. Ron and Harry had managed to have double of what she'd had, and for the most part they seemed fine. One more couldn't hurt.

Hours later, Hermione lay groaning face down in the toilet with Ron and Harry on either side observing the scene.

"What do we do now?" Ron cocked his head to the side in confusion.

Harry had no idea himself. "I dunno. Comfort her?"

Hermione scoffed so loudly it echoed in the toilet bowl. "I hate you both."

"Maybe not." Harry concluded about his previous suggestion. "Listen, mate. Maybe we should just leave her be. She's not too happy with us, and I've got to work early tomorrow."

Harry often had to work early. The world's most famous wizard had become a Gringotts cursebreaker after the war. He certainly fit the credentials the bank was looking for in such an employee. He had power, talent, experience, and character to offer. The hours were long and weary, but Harry rarely complained. Hermione assumed it kept his mind from focusing on the past.

"You can go back Harry, it's fine." Ron sighed. "I'll make sure she doesn't break her neck trying to find her bedroom."

Harry nodded quickly before he apparated back to the flat he shared with Ron. Just as he left, the sound of Hermione retching in small spurts filled the room again.

Without thinking, Ron ran a hand through Hermione's hair. To his surprise, she didn't object to this. Ron thought about removing his hand, but she never said anything about it. She actually seemed to relax.

"Disgusting and self-depreciating." Hermione repeated her sentiment from earlier in the evening. Ron couldn't help but let out a little laugh. Even under the influence, Hermione kept her prestigious attitude.

Ron couldn't believe she felt this sick after such a short period of time. "Geez Hermione, how many did you have?"

"Four."

Ron's burst of laughter echoed throughout the house before he managed to calm himself down and give repeated out-of-breath apologizes. It was obvious that Hermione hadn't drank much in the past, but at this point, she was more dramatic than she ever was drunk.

"Look at me! Nobody is ever going to marry me!"

Hermione truly believed the words that she had said. She couldn't see Ron's guilty face behind her. He didn't know what to do but to ignore the comment.

"You seem to be much better." Ron noted. "Maybe it's time for bed, Hermione."

Hermione whimpered. She slowly began to stand, her knees refusing to buckle. When she managed that, she turned toward Ron and promptly fell down again.

"Okay, I'll handle this." Ron mumbled to himself. With all the strength he could muster, he collected Hermione in his arms. It was not an easy task. Hermione was not as light as a feather, and even though Ron had some strength in him, he was not as strong as an ox. Finally, he managed to place her safely on her bed.

Despite the night's madness, Hermione looked sweet and peaceful in bed. Ron tried to stop himself from staring at her, but he couldn't help it. Even while faking sleep, Hermione could feel his presence over her. Then the footsteps began the fade away.

Hermione snuggled herself into the pillows. "Goodnight."

Ron was too far away to hear her, but she did get an answer. Something moved slowly in the corner of her room, making a slow screeching sound so low that it was barely audible to the human ear. Hermione opened her eyes immediately, but all she could see was blackness. Though she was growing impatient, she knew her eyes needed time to adjust.

By the time that her eyes actually did adjust, it was almost too late.

Hermione hadn't noticed any distinct shapes until she looked up and realized that there was a good reason for that. Whatever was in the room was standing right in front of her. She had been staring at its mid-section that entire time. Now she was staring at what she believed to be its head.

Hermione did the only possible thing that she could. "RON!"

Without five seconds of waiting, Hermione could hear footsteps pounding up the stairs. She looked toward and the door for a moment and then turned back. To her surprise, whatever was in the room had vanished. Hermione sat up at once, snatching up her wand and searching for it, but there was nothing there.

Looking back to the corner where it came from, Hermione noticed something odd. The corner of the wall was cracked and an odd blue mist came through. Almost immediately, the crack healed itself and the blue mist dispersed itself into the air.

Ron came in, puffing for breath. "Whasamatter?"

"There was something in my room."

"Something in your room?" Ron repeated, pulling out his wand and looking around. "Like what? A rat?"

"No Ron! I could kill a rat perfectly well by myself!" Hermione growled. Ron obviously didn't understand the fear in her facial expression. "There was something that came into my room and left."

"Was it a wizard?" Ron asked, checking under the bed and in the closet as if he were an Auror on a top secret mission to save one Miss Hermione Granger.

Hermione shrugged, her eyes still searching the room back and forth at very quick speeds. "I don't know what it was."

"How could you not recognize a human from any other creature in the universe?" Ron snapped back. "Do you think a goblin or a bloody unicorn would have the same shadow?"

"It could have been a thousand things!" Hermione argued. "It could have been a werewolf or a vampire or a hag! They all look like wizards!"

Ron shook his head. "Well there's nothing here. So I think it was just your imagination. You're not in the right state of mind, Hermione."

"I'll show you state of mind, Weasley."

"You'll get over it in the morning." Ron couldn't help but laugh a bit at Hermione's drunken attitude as he spoke. "I'll leave now and we'll have a chat about it tomorrow. I'm sure we'll all get a good laugh out of it."

"Don't leave!" Hermione managed to let out. Her brown eyes shot open in time to see Ron turning around. "Stay here."

Ron shushed her. "Just go to sleep, Hermione. I can't stay in the room and keep you up all night." Hermione let out a little sobbing noise, and this had just the effect she wanted. "Would you like me to stay on your couch and I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"That would be lovely."

The morning came too quickly. The sun glare in her eyes made Hermione's head sting, but she didn't feel as bad as she'd expected to feel. Perhaps some breakfast would help.

When Hermione reached her kitchen, Ron was already down there helping himself to a meal. "'Ood 'oring!" He greeted her with his mouth full of eggs and pumpkin juice. The sight was amusing and revolting all at once. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm okay." Hermione replied meekly. She suddenly felt a huge wave of embarrassment crash over her. "Sorry about all that."

"It's nothing, you just-"

Ron was cut off by a tapping at the window. Hermione turned away immediately, afraid to look and find another Ministry owl. It was just like yesterday all over again.

"Relax." Ron informed her. "It's just Pig."

Hermione let out a sigh of relief and let the extremely small feather ball into her home. Pig zoomed around the room relentlessly, hooting nonstop. Crookshanks was in the room in a matter of seconds, but before things could get ugly, Ron managed to snatch up his owl.

Ron carefully took the letters off Pig's twitchy leg. "There are two letters. One for me, one for you."

"Who's it from?" Hermione questioned as Ron threw her letter toward her. Ron then proceeded to rip open the envelope sloppily to get to a very detailed white card inside. He flipped it open carelessly.

"Well, what is it?" Hermione asked anxiously as she saw Ron's eyes widen.

"It's an invitation to Lavender and Seamus' wedding next month."

* * *

Thanks for all your support so far, guys!

I'd really love it if you reviewed with any constructive criticisms that you have!


	3. A Nightmare within a Dream

A/N: Sorry, guys! I know this chapter is a bit later than usual. I've been very busy with school this passed week. The good news is that chapter 4 is already written, but it won't be published until I've written most of chapter five.That why, if I ever don't have time to write one week, the chapter will already be pre-written! Bam!

Cappygal116- I absolutely love your recap of the story! Don't worry, it will only get better as the chapters keep coming! Thanks for being such a great reviewer.

Love-is-everything- Love your review! It rocks! Keep reviewing:-)

BuckNC- I'm not angry with you, I just think it's rude of you to freak out on me because I chose to write something a little less original for a challenge. I truly do appreciate your previous reviews, but I think your reaction to this one has been quite overdramatic. It's alright if you take me off your favorite authors list. I'll still be here writing. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep about it or anything. Sorry.

Quidditch7- Awww thank you! I'm glad that you think that the chapter is well written, because I've been trying to improve upon spelling and grammar errors. It's still not top notch, but it's better. In this chapter, your Lavender and Seamus questions shall be answered, and there will be more on what Hermione saw in a couple chapters.

Violet snicket- Thank you for being so amazingly kind. This story is going to move on and nothing's going to ruin it for me because I still have reviewers like you who understand and enjoy it. Hopefully this chapter makes you think, because that's what it's really all about.

Angellwings- I always try to stay creative, even when working with a popular genre. I'm so excited that you still think it's creative! I was a little late on updating this time, but I usually do it about once a week.

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 3: A Nightmare within a Dream

"Of course we were going to get married even if this law wasn't around." Lavender giggled to the young women around her. Ginny Weasley, Parvati Patil, Padma Patil, Hannah Abbott and Luna Lovegood were attached to her every word. After all, tomorrow was Lavender's big day.

Hermione couldn't believe her fate. She was stuck at a bloody hen party in Hogsmeade for one of her old Hogwarts roommates because of this law. Lavender and Seamus were so young, Hermione thought, but then again, she was thinking in muggle terms. Many people married young in the wizarding world.

"We've been together for over a year and we love each other." The bride-to-be continued dreamily. "I couldn't let anything happen to Seamus just because he's half-blood."

Hermione wanted to scoff, but she held it back. Lavender and Seamus gave in to this new decree too easily. It was just an excuse for Lavender to get hitched!

She could see it now. Lavender skipping down the aisle in an over-beaded bridal robe with her new scrawny Irish husband in tow, looking for all the attention she could get. Hermione couldn't help but let out a little snicker.

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Ginny inquired from across the table in the private back room of The Three Broomsticks.

Oh Merlin! She looked like a fool! She had to cover this one up quick!

"Oh, nothing! I was just thinking about.. our days at Hogwarts." That was a brilliant lie from one brilliant witch, Hermione concluded to herself. "We had some amazing days there." She turned now to Lavender, chalking it all up. "I remember you and Seamus at the Yule Ball."

Lavender smiled. "Yes! Of course! And you with Viktor Krum!"

"Tell me," Padma asked rather quietly, "Are you and Viktor still as friendly as you used to be?"

"Viktor and I lost touch a long time ago. I wrote to congratulate him on Bulgaria winning the Quidditch World Cup last year, but he didn't get back to me. He's busy, I guess. Besides that, we haven't really spoken since I left Hogwarts with Harry and Ron."

"Jealous, I bet." Parvati injected. "That's an awful shame, though. Hermione Granger and Viktor Krum's wedding would be world renowned! What a fine match!"

"Do you have any ideas yet, Hermione? You only have five months left!"

Oh no! Now all this wedding babble had turned toward her. She felt like a deer stuck in headlights. She didn't know what she wanted, so she obviously couldn't let anyone else know. Avoid the question. Just avoid the question!

Next to her, Ginny gave a sympathetic smile. Hermione gave Ginny a look of shear pain, but she was still glad that Ginny understood how strange this was for her.

"I have three months, actually." She told the group as they sipped their fancy drinks. "I'm considered a special interest case."

"That's lovely!" Lavender squealed.

Hermione faked a weak smile. She didn't know what the hell was so lovely about it.

"You'll be fine, Hermione." A dreamy voice spoke out. Luna's mystical tone was the only thing that could make her truly smile. "Being who you are, you could marry any man you wanted to."

"Of course! I mean, Harry Potter is your best friend!"

"Harry? No!" Hermione immediately glanced sadly toward Ginny. Hermione had never been attracted to Harry, but she knew that Ginny had never stopped being attracted to Harry. They still talked often, but nothing had ever happened between them. They were still afraid.

"Harry Potter sends out a behavioral-magical shockwave that is not in conjunction with Hermione's." Luna stated as if it were plain as day.

"Yeah, their auras are completely different." Lavender shot this comment to her Divination obsessed friend, Parvati.

Luna shook her head. "It's not quite the same." However, nobody seemed to hear her.

"Well, you have other friends too." Hannah sighed. "What about Ron?"

"Urgh! Let's not talk about my ex-boyfriend!" Lavender snapped.

"And my horrible Yule Ball date!" Padma added.

"Who is my brother so there's no need to insult him unless you want to get hexed!" Ginny said quickly and sarcastically in the same cruel tone of voice as Lavender and Padma.

Hermione was the only one who laughed.

Goodness, she hated hen parties.

* * *

"It was the only possible way. I guess we would've gotten married later if it weren't for the law, but I dunno. We've only been together for a little over a year." Seamus spoke to the young men around him. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom all laughed it off. After all, tonight was Seamus' last night of freedom.

Ron and Harry couldn't believe their luck. They were at a stag party, fully equipped with lovely witches at Dean's home in London, with all their old roommates. They couldn't believe Seamus was already getting married.

"Well, I love her, and I guess that's what matters." Seamus shrugged. "She wants to make sure nothing happens to me because of this law."

"Remember when you and Lavender first got together?" Dean asked Seamus.

"Yeah." Seamus smiled. "Once I got out of St. Mungo's after the war she fucking jumped on me. I had liked her for a while, but I guess she was more vocal about it."

Harry laughed. "I wish I had been there to see that."

It took a while for the other men to realize why Harry and Ron weren't there. All they could do was raise their eyebrows in agreement and feed the awkward silence.

"I think you two are going to do fine together." Neville assured Seamus. "I know the situation is tough, I'd hate to be in it, but at least you have a solution at hand."

Dean grunted. Neville's face reddened as he apologized for talking about it. The men had almost forgotten that Dean was half-blood as well.

"It's no big deal, mate." Dean replied. He took a long swig of his drink. "I have options. If all else fails, there's always Parvati."

"Have you been dating?" Harry inquired with knitted eyebrows.

"Not exactly." Dean blushed. "Let's just say we know each other intimately."

Seamus snorted into his beer. "If that's what you want to call it." Dean gave Seamus a very angry hand gesture.

"Well, I expect Parvati would want to be married once her best friend is married." Ron shrugged. "You know women, always wanting their children to grow up together and such."

"Who said anything about children?" "Nobody, mate. Nobody."

"What about Hermione?" Seamus asked. "What's her deal?"

Harry and Ron exchanged frightened looks. They both knew Hermione, and they both knew that she would be very unhappy if she knew she was discussed casually while the boys watched naughty witches at a stag night.

"She's working to find a way to abolish the law." Harry told the boys. "She's got meetings all over the Ministry and she's been doing research all the time."

"Sounds like Hermione." Neville said, shaking his head.

"But who's she going to marry if it doesn't work?"

"She hasn't really told us, but I think that's her personal business." Ron grunted. "She'll marry however she wants and we'll all be damn happy for her and her bloody husband."

"But who do you think it will be?" Seamus pushed the issue.

Ron slammed his drink down on the table. "Oh, lay off it!"

"It was just a damn question, Weasley!" The Irishman shot back.

"Ron's right." Harry almost swallowed his Adams Apple when he gulped. He obviously did not want to start trouble with the two very hot-tempered wizards. "We haven't a clue. Hermione is going to do what she thinks to best, and we just have to hope all goes well."

"As long as she stays safe, it's fine. Nobody wants to see her in Azkaban." Neville nodded, his head starting to lob about.

Ron grimaced. "It's not going to come down to that." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. There was no way any harm would ever come to Hermione Granger with her friends by her side.

"Why do you say that, Weasley?" Dean teased. "Are you going to marry her yourself?"

Ron didn't actually answer. He shook his head disapprovingly, rolled his eyes, chugged down the rest of his drink and said "I'll kick your arse myself, mate. I'm going to get another drink."

That was all the men ever said about the law or marriage. When Ron returned, the conversation had returned to lighter subjects like Quidditch and dung bombs. The talk occasionally ceased so that the slightly inebriated men could watch the scandalously dancing witches in front of them.

Goodness, they loved stag nights.

* * *

The wedding was just as Hermione imagined it. Almost every Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff student that Lavender and Seamus had ever known sat in the audience. Many were dressed in their house colors, but it was hard to tell what colors outweighed the others.

The red brick wedding hall was massive and fully embellished, including a crystal unicorn fountain. Fairies flew above the aisles, covering everyone in glimmering silver fairy dust. It was bright and sparkly and a bit overdone. This meant that Seamus had let Lavender do all the planning.

It only managed to get a more ridiculous when the music began. Parvati and Padma Patil walked down one after the other in identical short, strapless lavender dress robes with a large neon pink flower on the side. Though normal for them, the amount of makeup they wore was just too much. Compared to the rest of the people at the wedding, they looked as if they were going out for a night on the town. Hermione couldn't even tell them apart, and she had a feeling that most of the others couldn't either.

Then it was time for Lavender's grand entrance. She strutted down the aisle with her hair in bouncy blonde curls. Her dress robes were also unusually short for a wedding. It wasn't beaded all over the place like Hermione had expected, but covered in lace instead. The three women looked more like prostitutes than a wedding party.

Lavender took the hand of Seamus, who Hermione believed was wearing his old dress robes from the Yule Ball. Skinny bastard.

The rest of wedding moved smoothly except for an ill fairy who kept coughing on the right side of the hall, causing a large pile of fairy dust to build up on the floor. When Lavender and Seamus were pronounced husband and wife, the smug look on Lavender's face was just as Hermione had imagined it.

Maybe she should have been better friends with Lavender in school, she thought. Then maybe she would have had better luck in love these days. Maybe someone who loved her would take away her worries and marry her to save her from the Ministry if she were more of a girl like Lavender.

Then she took another look at the bridesmaids' dresses. Hermione was definitely better off the way truly she ended up.

The reception was held in the next room over, which was just as elaborately glamorous. This time, the fairies weren't allowed into the room. Apparently, Lavender's aunt had been under the malfunctioning fairy during the ceremony and was very disgruntled. This gave Lavender's father no choice but to make the fairies stay in the entrance hall.

It was in the reception hall that Dean Thomas stood proudly next to his best friend, telling the comedic and somewhat embarrassing story of how Seamus and Lavender came to be.

"Sharing an apartment with Seamus has been an experience I will never forget. Let's just stay that their new home will always be full of a certain kind of excitement." Dean made a subtle gesture which made the younger audience snicker.

"The last thing I need is the mention of their sex life." Hermione shivered in her seat.

"I walked in on them while I was staying over one night." Ron admitted, his face turning red as he spoke. He looked as if he was going to vomit. "Just be thankful that you're not getting mental images."

Hermione was immediately sorry that she had made a comment to begin with, but it gave her something with which to annoy Ron for the rest of the day. It was almost too simple.

"Lavender looks much darker than Seamus. She must be tanning." She commented as the hall watched the new couple dance. "Tell me Ron, does she look tanner when they're beside each other naked, or is it just the white dress?"

Ron grimaced. "Let's not get into this."

"But you've seen Seamus get into lots!" Hermione cooed back.

"Alright!" Ron's yelp turned a few heads, so his next words came in the form of a whisper. "I'm putting up the white flag! You win! Stop bringing it up!"

Hermione smirked in satisfaction. "I think that panic made your hairline recede a bit."

"Someday, I'm going to get you back for this."

The hours came and went faster than the guests had hoped. Hermione had found the time to bump into such familiar faces as Professor McGonagall, Katie Bell, Susan Bones, and Colin Creevy. With many of these people she chatted for lengthy periods or even shared a dance.

Unfortunately, she also had the displeasure of seeing Cormac McLaggen with his date, Cho Chang. It was a very uncomfortable moment for both Hermione and Harry. Ron wasn't as uncomfortable as he was outraged.

"I didn't know you're friendly with Seamus, McLaggen." Ron accused. "Just come for the celebration then, have you?"

Cormac gave him a smug smile. "Everyone who was anyone in Hogwarts is here. Naturally, I was invited."

"Fancy that." Hermione sighed in a bothered tone. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but Cormac didn't seem to notice her annoyance.

Cho gave Hermione the fakest smile Hermione had ever seen. "Well Hermione, it's good to know that nothing's changed and you're still running in the same circles." She gave a quick glance to Harry and Ron. "We've got to go visit with the Patils now. Nice seeing you again!"

Without another word, the couple hurried away from them, leaving Hermione and Harry completely speechless.

"Twits!" Ron grunted. "They deserve each other."

By this time the night was dwindling down and most people were either drunk or exhausted from mingling. There were only a few people who seemed to have energy. Seamus, though a bit tipsy, seemed to be raving mad when he came over to them.

"Have you seen Lavender?" He continued to search around the room even as he asked them.

"Come to think of it, I haven't." Harry answered. Hermione hadn't seen her either. She had been doing so much that she had even lost track of the bride.

"I can't seem to find her anywhere in the building. Do you know if she went outside for anything?"

"I dunno." Ron shrugged his shoulders. "How about we give the grounds a look around?"

Seamus nodded furiously. "She's probably just out there having a grand old talk with a friend and she lost track of the time. Let's just get her back inside for the last dance."

Ron, Harry, and Seamus began to walk toward the nearest exit to the building, but one thing held Hermione back. Her bladder.

"I'm just going to go in the ladies room and then I'll join you!" She called out, turning toward the door leading out into the Entrance Hall.

The entrance hall was silent except for a few mysterious people whispering in the shadows. Hermione could almost make them out by the light of all the fairies, but not quite.

Once she entered the bathroom, she forgot all about the wedding guests in the entrance hall quite suddenly.

Lavender stood in front of the mirror with a rip in her white dress robes, poking at a large bruise covering the right side of her jaw.

"Lavender!" Hermione gasped. Lavender hurried to cover the bruise with her hand, but Hermione pulled her fingers away from the mark. "What happened?"

"Oh, it was so embarrassing!" Lavender cried out. "My dress got snagged on a chair and I fell into a table and hit my head!"

"And nobody came in here to help you?"

"They just didn't notice, I guess."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. It was odd to think that the bride could fall face first into one of her guest's tables and nobody would notice. Plus, even if she hadn't initially gotten attention, Lavender would have made a scene and gotten the attention of everyone. That's just how Lavender did things.

"Are you feeling alright?" Hermione examined the bruise. It was much too round to be from the corner of the table. "Should we go to St. Mungo's and have that jaw checked out?"

"No! If I tell anyone what happened then-" Lavender stopped short.

"Then what?"

Lavender's eyes scanned the room shakily, lingering just a bit too long on the corner of the wall to her right.

"I dunno.." She held back the tears in her eyes. "The guests will all laugh at me. It'll ruin my wedding."

Hermione knew that this wasn't helping Lavender at all. In fact, her presence seemed to be making Lavender more distraught by the minute. The best thing she could think to do was avoid curiosity and help Lavender feel well again.

"Well, we can fix that bump and your dress with a few simple spells and nobody will ever know that you took a fall."

Lavender's eyes grew bright. "Do you promise you won't tell a soul?" Her words seemed a bit too desperate to be normal.

"I promise."

It was with those words that Hermione moved around Lavender, saying a handful of spells that she had used many times before to fix things and heal bruises. She felt a little guilty covering up the fact that something had obviously happened here, but she couldn't ruin Lavender's wedding day.

"Well, Seamus is looking for you so you two can have your last dance of the night." The brunette witch informed the blonde bride once she was finished.

"Right then." Lavender looked at herself in the mirror one last time. "I should go out there."

Lavender ruffled her dress, puffed out her chest, and began strutting out of the bathroom. Suddenly, she stopped as if she had hit a brick wall and turned around.

"Hermione."

"Yeah, Lav?"

Lavender looked as if she was about to cry once again. Something was obviously getting to her.

"You don't think I'm some sort of mudbl- I mean, muggle lover who only married Seamus because I wanted the attention, right?"

Hermione whirled around to look Lavender right in the eyes. "I would never think that!"

"Okay."

Without another word, Lavender spun around once again and rushed out of the bathroom to find her new husband.

* * *

The plot thickens.. DUN NA NA! Don't fear! All will be revealed in due time!

And now, a short poem/rap!

Did something seem fishy?

Were the characters true?

So you got some questions?

Then come on, review!


	4. Reactions and Missing in Action

A/N: I know this is a week later than it should have been and I'm really sorry, but I have a LEGIT excuse. I caught a really unhappy virus that decided to shut down my system and I spent most of the past week in the hospital. Good thing I've been pre-writing! _I have yet to really edit this, but I promise to go back and do so later this week_. I'm very busy trying to catch up on a missed week of work, but I can give you the next chapter right now! Woohoo!

But first, a few words for my lovely reviewers:

IsabellaPaige- Yes, something big happened. Isn't it exciting? I'm sorry to say that it's not covered in this chapter, but you'll get more hints in the next chapter! Keep reading and all the answers will come to you!

Cappygal116- I'll admit, the poem was a little cheesy. Perhaps I won't ask for reviews so oddly next time. The plot is just getting started, so hopefully you'll be able to get into it more and more as the story goes on. Be sure to tell me what you think of it!

Quidditch7- I'm so glad you like the story so far! I definitely use the Harry/Ginny theme a bit in all my stories, and who knows, maybe it will progress throughout the story. Would you like that? I'm glad you liked the fairy! I try to use small details to keep everyone interested. Lavender's incident will definitely cause her to get jumpy soon, but her relationship will Seamus with be stable as ever.

Violet Snicket- You're Brazilian? I would have never guessed! You're English in very good! I'm actually half Portuguese myself(my dad immigrated to the US when he was very young), though I know the cultures aren't the same at all besides the similar language. I'm sorry to keep you waiting for this chapter. I'm glad you liked the kind of girls versus boys set-up I had in the last chapter though!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 4: Reactions and Missing in Action

A white fiber substance was growing out of Ginny Weasley's mouth at a rapid pace. "George! If you keep putting that cotton mouth potion in my mashed potatoes, I am going to hex you to oblivion!"

There was never a dull moment at the Weasley home. Perhaps that's why Hermione was always a bit early when Mrs. Weasley invited her to dinner with Harry, Ron and the rest of the family.

"Sorry, Ginny." George mumbled through a bite of his pot roast. He flicked his wand and the cotton in Ginny's mouth vanished. "That plate was meant for Ron. Mum gave out the plates in the wrong order."

Ron's jaw hung low despite the fact that it was still filled with his own mashed potatoes.

Molly Weasley eyed her son as if he were a felon. "It's my fault that you put cotton mouth potion is my mashed potatoes? If that's the case, perhaps I shouldn't have you over for dinner anymore!"

"Mum!"

"No, George!" Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Don't you talk back to me! I should give you the potatoes that you gave Ginny and then wash your mouth out with Pepper-up potion!"

Fred cringed in the seat next to George. "That would be painful."

Hermione smirked as she ate her corn. She couldn't get such quality entertainment while eating at home or with her family. She couldn't get a quality home cooked meal either.

"So how is everyone? How's work?" Arthur Weasley paused for a moment. He looked around the table, observing every person. Hermione felt a little awkward when he turned to her. "I'm asking you all about work. I feel so old."

"You are old, dad."

Mr. Weasley wiped at his spectacles. "Thank you, Ronald."

"That's no way to answer your father's question!" Mrs. Weasley pointed out.

Ron shrugged. "Work is just work. Broom testing isn't all that exciting. You just fly in simple patterns and hope nothing bad happens."

"Bad?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "You mean like the day you tested a malfunctioning broom and almost broke your neck?"

"Well someone's got to do it. Better me than some little boy who got a bad broom for his birthday. Plus, Firebolt pays me a decent salary. It's worth the risks."

"Let's not argue about Ron's job again." Fred grunted. "Harry, how's Gringotts?"

"It's been going well. I've been working overtime because another cursebreaker has a bad bout of the flu, but work's been easy lately." Harry stabbed at a piece of meat and shoved it in his mouth. Work was never his favorite subject.

"What about you, Hermione? What's been new?"

"I've been taking a lot of time off work, actually." Hermione admitted. "I'm already ahead of schedule on the Advanced Transfiguration book I'm writing. It should be easy to meet my deadline."

"At the wedding, I heard McGonagall tell you to send her a copy when you're done." Ginny smiled. "I bet your book will replace the old NEWT level books. Those were rubbish."

"I don't know about that." Hermione blushed a bit. She would love to have her book used to educate children at Hogwarts, but she couldn't get her hopes up. It was possible that McGonagall wouldn't like her book at all.

"And what about.. other things?" Harry asked, trying not to be too nosy. Hermione had kept her crusade against the Ministry quiet. She certainly didn't want the same time of reaction she had gotten from SPEW.

Hermione nodded her head to show Harry that he wasn't offending her. "I've got a meeting with the governors in three weeks, and I finally got the date of the deciding appeal with the Wizengamot."

"When is it?" Ron's ears perked up in curiosity.

"In three months and four days." Hermione read off her mental calendar. It felt to her like three months and four days was simply not enough time to prepare.

"Three months?" Ron cried out. "But that's too late! The law affects you in a little more than two months!"

Everyone at the table grew very edgy. They knew that discussing Hermione's 'situation' certainly put them on thin ice. A massive conflict was bound to break out if they tried to intervene in the words Ron and Hermione were exchanging. All they could do was look away, sip their pumpkin juice, and breathe normally.

"I know, Ron! I'm not just doing this for me!" Hermione screeched. "I have to sacrifice my own well-bring in order to help those who still have time! If you weren't so selfish, you would understand that!"

"Selfish?" Ron looked absolutely appalled by the accusation. "I'm selfish because I don't think it's fair that you have to marry someone against your will and the others will get off without a hitch? Oh yes, I see exactly what you mean!"

"Who said I'd be marrying against my will?"

Now even Ron grew silent. He sat back with his arms crossed and his mouth hanging open, processing what Hermione had just said. Suddenly his face turned very grim.

"So you already think you've found someone, have you?" Ron spoke in a much softer, firmer voice now. "Who is it, then?"

"It's none of your business!" Hermione spat at him. "If I wanted people to know, I would have told them already!"

Hermione couldn't believe she had just said that. Surely the entire population of the room would find that offensive on some level, because they were all people that she generally confided in. They had been through so much together, but she couldn't even tell them something as simple as who she was interested in.

Harry coughed quickly. Fred whistled to himself while George continuously kicked the leg of the table. Molly Weasley's eyes were darting all around the room, but her husband was staring straight down at his empty plate.

Ginny was the first to move. "Who's up for dessert?"

As she hurried to the counter, Hermione should up from her chair. "Thank you Ginny, but I must be getting home. I need to focus some attention on my writing now before these upcoming busy weeks." The whole table knew it was a lie. Hermione knew it was a lie. Nobody tried to argue it. "Mrs. Weasley, thank you for another amazing dinner."

"You're welcome, dear." Mrs. Weasley quietly mumbled back in a voice that was very unlike her own. "Come visit if you'd ever like to have a chat."

Hermione walked toward the fireplace in the Weasleys' parlor. She was just too stressed to operate. Her eyes stung and every bone in her body seemed to resist movement. Why did she say that?

She could here another racket in the background as Ron stormed around the kitchen, slamming his plate into the sink and apparating with a familiar popping noise.

"She's bluffing, you know." Hermione could hear Ginny say from the kitchen. "There's no way she wouldn't tell us. She just said it to get to Ron, of course."

"We thought that Hermione was bluffing my fourth year too." Harry spoke up. His voice wasn't nearly as confident. The tone was actually quite perplexed. "Then she showed up at the Yule Ball with an international quidditch star."

Hermione couldn't bare to hear it anymore. She threw the floo powder into the fire with such rage that half the powder hit the back of the fireplace rather than the flames. Still, the fire whipped into an emerald green color and Hermione entered.

Coughing a bit at the other end, Hermione stumbled toward her study room. It was there that she did all her research and writing for her books. She needed something to get her mind off of the horror story that had just unfolded in The Burrow's kitchen, and work always seemed to do the trick.

She cracked open her old Transfiguration book, followed by a fresh copy of her latest study on the effects of Transfiguration on blast-ended skrewts. A fresh piece of parchment and a dictating quill were exacted from her desk draw.

She was feeling a bit calmer already. Ron would get over it. Nobody else in the room seemed to care.

"Hermione? Are you in here?" A voice belted out from a distant room. "HERMIONE!"

There went the nice, calm feelings.

Hermione stormed out of her study. She couldn't quite make out the voice of the wizard in her house, but she was sure it was Harry trying to make her apologize or Ron trying to pick another fight. Bloody hell!

"Look," Hermione began as she walked into her parlor. "I didn't mean to offend anyone but he had no right to-"

"Offend me? Hermione, what are you talking about?"

The head in the fireplace belonged to neither Harry nor Ron. This face was a bit chubbier with wide eyes almost completely covered by matted brown hair.

"Neville!" Hermione was a bit shocked and a bit more confused. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect you."

"It doesn't matter." Neville muttered off quickly. "You need to get over to my flat. It's an emergency."

Hermione clutched at her wand. "An emergency? What happened?"

"I'll explain it to everyone once you're all here. Harry, Ron, and Ginny will be here as soon as they can get Ron to come out of his old bedroom. I dunno why he'd hole himself up in there."

Hermione's stomach dropped. Of course she had to piss off Ron just before an emergency situation!

She shook it off as best she could. "Well, Ron is a stubborn arse."

"Oh no!" Neville groaned. "Are you two at it again? He'll never leave that room!"

As if he had heard his cue, Ron's voice rang through the flat. "Hey Hermione! Hermione, where are you?"

"He apparated into my bedroom!" Hermione was completely taken aback. "Why that little git!"

Neville shook his head. "I'll come in and talk to him." Neville jerked forward, but never completely entered the room. "Oh hell, my foot's stuck on the fireplace gate. Could you give me a tug?"

Hermione could hear Ron's footsteps steadily getting closer. It would be better if Neville dealt with Ron right now.

She reached toward the fireplace and grasped Neville's hands. "I'll pull on three."

Ron was seconds away now.

"One.."

"Hermione, forget about dinner." Ron called out from the bottom of the stairs.

"Two.."

"Something's happened!"

"Three!"

Hermione yanked Neville forward with such force that he came right at her. He managed to land one foot on the ground, but the other sent him off-balance and he fell directly on top of Hermione, one of his shoes still stuck in his fireplace.

Ron rounded the corner. "I know you're mad, but c'mon! This is an emer-"

Ron's eyes feel upon the scene in front of him. Hermione and Neville were rolling around on the floor and separated as quickly as possible when they saw Ron. They were both a little out of breath.

"Neville?" Ron questioned, his eyes locked straight on Hermione. "He was your secret little choice?"

"Ron, nothing happened!" Hermione said, her voice weak from the frustration of the awkward situation.

"It's not what you think, mate!" Neville shouted. He looked absolutely terrified, as if he were afraid Ron would lunge at him and beat him to a bloody pulp.

And Hermione knew that there was a decent probability that Ron would actually lunge at Neville and beat him to a bloody pulp.

Ron turned around for a moment so that his back was facing them. His fists were clenched in rage. Here came the lunge.

It never came.

Ron turned back around with his fists still clenched, but something was different. He had a very thin-lipped smile on his face.

"Well, congratulations." He spoke. "But that doesn't matter. We have something much bigger to deal with, from the way Ginny made it seem when she burst through my door."

"Let's just floo back to my flat." Neville squeaked. "Mind the fireplace gate."

Neville took a small handful of floo power from the pot on Hermione's mantle and practically ran into the fire, shouting for his home.

Hermione reckoned that Neville was lucky to make it home without pissing himself first.

"I've got to tell you, Hermione." Ron snarled through cynical laughter. "When you told me you had chosen someone already, Neville Longbottom was not the first person to come to mind."

"Ron, Neville was just coming in to talk to you and-"

"Forget it, Hermione!" There was something different in his voice this time as he picked up some floo power and tossed it into the fire. "You don't have to come up with an excuse. It doesn't matter. I won't tell anyone."

Without another word he stepped into the green fire and disappeared.

Hermione choked back tears. She felt so selfish. Ron thought she was in love with Neville, but she could never have such deep feelings for a man like Neville. This bothered her more than the fact that Neville had just told her that there was a true emergency at hand.

As she made her way to the fireplace, Hermione felt as if this was the worst night of her life.

Hermione had hoped that her dignity would be restored once she met up with all the others at Neville's flat, but the exact opposite happened. Her heart hit rock bottom.

Ron sat at one head of the table. He looked absolutely torn between anger and despair. He was still staring down Neville, who sat at the foot of the table. Neville was clutching the table for dear life at this point.

Harry and Ginny sat on one side of the table. The looks on their faces clearly expressed that they were more than confused. They were starting to panic.

The only people beside Neville who seemed to know what was going on were Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati. Seamus looked paler than ever as he held a gently weeping Lavender in his arms. Parvati sat with her head in her hands. By the shaking body, Hermione guessed that she was crying as well.

"Get on with it, then." All the tension in the room made Ron snap. "What's happened?"

"Ron! Stop!" Ginny whispered harshly, eyeing Lavender and Parvati. "What's gotten into you?"

Ron's fist hit the table. "None of your damn business!"

Hermione couldn't believe his reaction to what he thought he had just seen. Why was Ron so defensive? Hermione knew she had to say something in order to resolve the situation, but she certainly didn't plan what came out of her mouth next.

"For Merlin's sake Ronald, I'm not in love with Neville!"

Everyone at the table, whether they had been crying, panicking, or raging, looked up in Hermione's direction. She was the smartest witch in her year. How did this always happen to her?

She had to explain quickly. "Neville's shoe got caught in his fire gate and I had to pull him through! He lost his balance and we fell, that's all!"

To prove her point, Neville walked over to the fireplace where his shoe was still lodged. After a few tough yanks, he pulled it out and held it up for all to see.

It was obvious that Ron was trying to come up with another explanation or a witty comeback, but Harry didn't give him the chance.

"Who gives a damn?" Harry growled. "Something's happened and I want to know what the hell is going on!"

Neville hung his head in shame. The troublesome shoe was placed on the ground. Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati became particularly uncomfortable.

"Dean's gone missing."

"Missing?" Hermione replied. "Have you told the Ministry?"

Hermione couldn't believe that after all that had happened, she was still referring her companions to the Ministry of Magic.

"The Ministry doesn't give a damn." Seamus finally spoke, his voice cracking in a boyish way that the others had never seen in him before, not even at age eleven. "They just reported him as dead."

Ginny's gasp of breath was audible throughout the room. "Dead?"

"Dean having gone missing doesn't mean that he's dead." Ron didn't seem so angry anymore. He too had reverted to a childlike voice filled with pure denial. "He could have had emergency family situation or a business trip."

"The Ministry has good reason to believe he's dead," Seamus replied. "because I found this in his flat."

Nobody saw Seamus' next move coming. He held up an old cloak that had been clenched in his hand that entire time. There was a large tear running through it and surrounding that tear was thick scarlet liquid. Blood.

"The whole flat was searched. They never found a body."

Hermione knew this couldn't be happening. Dean Thomas couldn't be dead. After the war, they were all going to live long, happy lives. There was no incentive for his murder. Plus, the authorities never found Dean's dead body. There was no confirmed death without a dead body.

"We have to find him."

* * *

So, I've written you and poem and I've offered you my food. Now I'm just going to be sweet and simple with you wonderful people who read the stories I write.

PLEASE REVIEW! I always respond to my reviewers, so the experience will be delightfully interactive for you!


	5. The Search Party

A/N: I'm so bad at this time management thing, but I still managed another chapter (which I just finished.) I have so much fun writing this story, and I really hope you all enjoy reading it. I get more into it with every review I get. You guys are the best! Enjoy!

IsabellaPaige- And your reviews will always make me smile!

Zarroc- Well, it is an H/R story! However, not everything is always happily ever after. It's going to be much more complicated than that. Hopefully it's still fun to read!

Love-is-everything- I hate to tell you, but the misunderstanding has only begun. I totally plan on reading your story. I've just been busy lately. After I finish my anthropology assignment today, I'll go straight to it!

Violet Snicket- I love it when Ron and Hermione fight. It's my favorite thing to write. This chapter answers a few questions, but not too many. I don't want to give it away all at once!

Angellwings- Thank you so much! What have you liked about to story so far? I'd love to know.

Quidditch7- I have a little H/G plan for the next chapter. I figured I'd give you that sneak peek because you've been such an awesome reviewer. Most of your questions about Lavender and Dean will be answered and Ron and Hermione's tension will build if you just read on!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 5: The Search Party

The room was so deadly silent that that it chilled Hermione to the bone. Nobody had anything to say because nobody could think of a solution to the problem at hand. It was unlike anything they had ever dealt with before. How did you conduct a search for a dead man?

"Where do we begin?" Neville broke the eerie silence.

"We need something to help us. Some sort of clue." Harry stated. "We need to search all the places that Dean has been recently."

Seamus pushed himself up and out of his chair. "We'll start at his flat. I doubt it was searched thoroughly."

"His flat?" Ron repeated. "I thought it was still your flat too. You hadn't finished moving out, last time I'd checked."

"Well, I finished moving out two days ago." Seamus bit back. He was starting to look pasty and ill.

As likely to start trouble as it was, Hermione had to ask the obvious question. "Did anything seem odd when you were there?"

"Fuck, Hermione!" Seamus belted out. "If anything seemed out of place I would have fucking told you! I didn't notice anything, okay? I was too damn busy!"

Ron stood up, his chair screeching on the tile floor. "Watch yourself, Finnegan!"

"Ron!" Hermione clawed his arm, trying to stop the raging beast that was Ronald Weasley's temper. "Don't do this!"

Hermione knew very well that Seamus wasn't truly angry with her. He was feeling guilty. He had been the last person out of the group to see Dean, and he hadn't noticed anything unusual. Maybe he thought he could have stopped Dean's disappearance if only he had been more attentive, but Seamus had nothing for them.

"What are we waiting for?" To Hermione's surprise, it was Parvati Patil who spoke with such passion. Hermione knew Parvati had a relationship with Dean that was more than friendly, but she didn't know many other details. "We need to find him!"

"Right then." Ginny sounded short of breath as she spoke. "Let's all apparate over there."

Everyone complied easily. Harry was the first to go, followed by Neville, Ginny, and Parvati. Ron observed Hermione for a moment before leaving.

Hermione knew she had to take this opportunity before it was too late. She needed to know the answers.

"Lavender, can I speak to youfor a moment before you leave?"

Seamus raised an eyebrow. "What would you need to talk to her about?"

"It's nothing, Seamus." Lavender assured him. "I had written Hermione a letter about something quite important, but I can't tell you. It's a surprise."

Hermione knew that Lavender was a decent actress but as she kissed her husband on the cheek and whispered "Go on with the others, we'll meet you there," her performance was flawless.

Seamus apparated to his former living space without another question.

"What did you see in that bathroom, Lavender?"

Lavender's eyes shot from Hermione to the floor, then from one side of the room to the other. Her toes curled inside her light pink slippers, but her hands went loose by her sides. She looked absolutely petrified.

"Hermione, what are you talking about? Why would I have seen something in a lavatory?" Lavender's blue eyes blinked so much she looked like a broken doll.

Hermione was absolutely shocked. "Dean's gone! He could be dead or dying!"

"I know, Hermione. What do you expect me to do about it?"

A cry emitted from Hermione's throat as she slammed her fist down on Neville's table. A cup fell over, its contents spilling all over. Neither Hermione nor Lavender moved.

"What are you trying to do? Kill him?" Hermione moved toward Lavender with fierce anger flowing through her body. "I saw your face a few minutes ago when Neville told us everything! You're holding something back! I know it!"

Lavender's lips twisted into a smirk. "I don't know what you're talking about, Hermione!"

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She didn't understand why Lavender wasn't telling her anything when it was clear that something had gone on in the lavatory the night of her wedding. Obviously Hermione couldn't convince Lavender to tell her anything, so she would just have to go on a wild search with the others.

Feeling more betrayed than she ever had in her life, Hermione moved herself directly in Lavender's path so that she could look her directly in the eyes.

"Just remember that if he dies, it's your fault."

Lavender snickered. "I haven't done anything. If he dies it's as much your fault as it is mine."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione snarled. "I'm not that one holding back information on what happened to Dean."

"You're the bloody know-it-all. You figure it out."

Lavender's words made a wave of loathing burst forth from Hermione. Before she had the chance to think twice about it, Hermione had already opened her fist and given Lavender a good sharp slap across her pretty pale face.

"STUPID TWIT!" Hermione bellowed. "How dare you! This is your fault!"

The smug expression that had been on Lavender's face before was certainly gone now. A flash of anger flew across her face, but it was quickly replaced by a more troubled look. Her eyes darted around the room once again, searching for an answer. After another moment, her lips began to quiver and she eventually dissolved into tears.

Hermione continued to stare only for another minute. She didn't care how hard Lavender cried. There was no way in hell Hermione was going to apologize.

"I'm going to Dean's flat to help the others." She stated, and with that she apparated away from Lavender's sobs.

* * *

Dean's parlor was quiet, but Hermione could hear random noises throughout the flat. A cabinet slammed shut in the kitchen. A closet door in the long hallway creaked open. Footsteps clamored up and down the wooden stairs. Most importantly, the voices of mumbling wizards could be heard all over. 

Hermione moved towards the sounds that seemed closest. She found herself staring down at a lithe red-haired witch as she scrambled through the kitchen cabinets nearest the floor.

"Why are you out here?" Hermione asked as she observed the room. "Nothing seems out of place around here. I never knew Dean was so clean and organized."

Ginny's head poked up from behind the cabinet door. "Shocking, isn't it? I would have never guessed myself."

Giving up on that cabinet, Ginny shut the door and reached for the shelves above her head. "Most of the group is searching Dean's bedroom because that's the real nasty scene, but I didn't fancy staying in there. Just because the rest of the house isn't ransacked doesn't mean that there are no clues out here."

"Very well, then." Hermione nodded as Ginny shuffled through the food stock. "I think I better look in the room where everything went on, but tell us right away if you find anything."

As Hermione walked to the stairs, she could see Seamus' tiny body searching the hallway closet. She sucked in a deep breath and tried to walk as quietly as possible. Her mission was to avoid conversation with the husband of a woman with which she was more than disgusted. She failed.

"Oi Hermione!" Seamus called for her attention as she walked by. "Where's Lavender?"

Hermione gulped down hard. It was hard to sound natural in a situation like this. "Oh, she's just using Neville's bathroom before coming over. She should be here any moment."

Seamus looked a bit suspicious, but before he could question Hermione, Lavender apparated into the corridor. Hermione rushed up the stairs as soon as the blonde witch appeared. She wasn't quite sure what dramatic story Lavender would come up with to make the situation worse this time, but she wouldn't stick around to hear it.

All of Hermione's worries about Lavender washed away as she turned the corner into Dean's bedroom. Her stomach turned as she took in all the sights in front of her.

Dean's mattress was flipped over, his bed curtains torn to shreds. Drawers from the dresser lay piled up in the floor with Dean's clothes scattered about. Old picture frames containing images of Hogwarts mates and family were broken on the floor.

"Oh my goodness."

"Yeah, it's worse than I'd expected as well." Harry replied from across the room where he was searching through Dean's desk. Everyone in the room was silently slithering all over the place, searching carefully like a muggle detective.

Parvati seemed to be the only one who wasn't scouring through Dean's possessions.

"Did you find anything yet?" Hermione asked.

"I found something." Parvati answered in a voice so low that Hermione could barely hear her speak. "But it's not going to help any."

"What is it?" Hermione questioned, noticing the black object held tightly between Parvati's hands.

Parvati unclasped her hands to reveal a black velvet box. Ever so slowly, she placed her left hand on top of the box and lifted the cover. Inside there laid a dazzling sight made of platinum and diamonds, one large jewel was in the shape of a crescent moon.

"He was going to ask someone to marry him." As Parvati spoke, Harry, Ron, and Neville exchanged nervous looks behind her. "I don't want to sound conceited, but I think he was going to ask me."

Hermione thought for a moment. Dean hadn't been seeing anyone. He had other female companions, such as Susan Bones, but they were never too close. Rumor always had it that Dean and Parvati had something for each other. Parvati was probably right.

A tear slid down Parvati's cheek. For the first time Hermione could remember, she felt bad for Parvati Patil. She began to feel guilty for all the times she'd called her former roommate prissy or made fun of her robes or scowled at her gossip. Parvati now seemed human.

"It's alright." Neville managed to say to the back of Parvati's head. "We've all been through worse. We'll find him."

Ron scoffed. "We all know how well Neville comforts the ladies."

"Will you stop being such an arse?" Something in Neville had snapped. The words that he shot back at Ron took everyone by surprise. He didn't look like a coward anymore. He looked absolutely livid.

"Yes Neville, I'm the arse and you're the sweet bloke who wins everyone's heart." Ron growled out as he lifted up Dean's mattress. "I know that."

Neville let out an exasperated sigh. "You caught us in a bad position! I understand that you're obsessed and jealous, but Merlin, nothing happened!"

Hermione choked on the air she was breathing.

Ron looked appalled. "Obsessed and jealous? Bullocks! I just know that my best friend could do better than you!"

"I thought we already settled this!" Hermione cried out once she could breathe again.

"I thought we had too." Ron snarled. "But then I realized something. You told me you weren't in love with Neville, but you never told me that you were in love with the man you want to marry. So it is him?"

Neville looked more confused than he did in his first year of potions. "Are you delusional?"

"How could you think about something that trivial at a time like this?" Hermione couldn't believe Ron was acting this way. He hadn't been this irrational since a gnome crawled up his trousers during the summer. "You're a selfish bastard, Ronald!"

"Why can't you just answer my question, Hermione?"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Harry had heard enough. He moved toward the door, but he never made it through the threshold. As he rushed out, Ginny rushed in and they collided. After grabbing on to each other for stability and one very awkward moment of laughter, they both seemed to remember why they were moving in the first place.

"I found something in one of the drawers in his kitchen!" Ginny held up a fresh-looking white piece of parchment addressed to Dean in purple ink.

Seamus and Lavender moved into the room to observe the letter as well. Hermione carefully scrutinized the return address. "Melinda Rollins? Who's Melinda Rollins?"

"Dean's mum, of course." Seamus stated as if it were the most obvious piece of information in the world. "She got married and changed her name a few years back."

"What does it matter that Dean got a letter from his mum?" Neville asked. "I get letters from my Gran all the time."

"It's not the letter itself!" Ginny rolled her eyes at Neville. "Listen to this. 'I'm saddened to see you go on such a long journey so soon. I expected the Ministry would have given you more training before sending you back there. It's a shame Seamus isn't coming with you this time. I don't know how I feel about this new partner of yours. Write me often and come home as soon as possible.'"

Harry stared at Seamus with a puzzled look. "Where did you and Dean ever travel together?"

"We've never taken a vacation." Seamus replied. He was wracking his brain for any possible answers. Finally, a light bulb flickered on. "We went to a really lousy wizarding community in Germany as part of our international Auror training, but we both dropped out a few months after that."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And what has Dean been doing since?"

"Working."

"Where has he been working?"

Seamus shrugged his shoulders. Hermione thought long and hard. She knew the occupation of every person in the room, but she didn't know Dean's occupation at all. It just never came up.

Something wasn't right. Seamus was so tense it looked as if his bones were about to snap. Lavender, on the other hand, was shaking.

A thought hit Hermione like a ton of bricks.

"Seamus, was Dean an unspeakable?"

"I don't know." His voice was calm and stolid.

Ron wasn't accepting that answer too well. "What do you mean you don't know? He was your best friend!"

"I JUST DON'T KNOW, OKAY?" Seamus ran his hands through his hair. "I wish I did but I don't have a fucking clue."

Ginny continued the line of questioning. "And what about this partner of his? Dean's mum is very worried. He sounds dangerous."

"Yeah." Hermione agreed, never taking her eyes off Lavender "Violent, even."

"Why are you looking at me that way?" Lavender asked in the sweetest voice she could muster up. It was her way of trying to stop Hermione, but it wasn't going to work.

"Tell them."

"What are you talking about?" Seamus spat, defending his wife's apparently delicate condition.

"Lavender was attacked the night of your wedding. I found her in the bathroom." Hermione felt cruel. She had not only broken her promise, but announced the situation to the whole room, but in her heart she knew it needed to be done. "She knows something about this. She refused to tell me earlier."

"You're a rotten bitch, Hermione!" Lavender shouted out. She didn't look so innocent anymore. "How could you!"

"You were attacked at our wedding and you couldn't even tell me?" It was hard to tell whether Seamus was offended or disappointed.

"I didn't want to ruin our wedding!" Lavender squealed. "Besides, I couldn't tell anyone!"

Seamus wasn't afraid to be forceful with his bride anymore. "What happened, Lavender? Tell me right now!"

"I didn't see where he came from." She began. "He just grabbed a chunk of my robes and spun me around. Before I could even look up, he hit me in the jaw."

Lavender's eyes were welling up with tears. Everyone could tell this wasn't easy for her to recall. "He turned me so I couldn't see his face. I don't even know if he was human. All I could see was black."

She sucked in a deep breath. "He called me a filthy mudblood lover. He told me I was only marrying Seamus to save him from the Ministry and that he pitied me."

Seamus let out a growl.

"He said that.. he said that I was being watched very closely, and if I helped another mudbl- person of muggle heritage, his people would seek their revenge on me." She sobbed. Her next line came out as a shriek. "Why wouldn't they want us to be married?"

"They want all the half-bloods and purebloods to be prosecuted by the Ministry." Harry stated with a rare look of understanding in his eyes.

"And you think this man could be Dean's partner?" Seamus looked to Hermione for the answers.

"I dunno." Hermione answered honestly. "It's possible. He seems like an awfully wooly character."

"But it doesn't make sense." Ginny injected. "Dean's a half-blood."

"There's more." Lavender peeped from behind a mask of tear streaks. "He said that if I told anyone about him, he'd kill Seamus."

"Fuck that!" Seamus replied. "Not if I kill him first!"

Lavender ignored him and continued. "Then he disappeared."

"You mean he disapparated?" Parvati questioned.

"No, he opened this crack in the corner of the wall and walked right through." Lavender said. She looked as if she was embarrassed by the memory. "I might wrong. I've never any sort of magic like that."

A memory shot into Hermione's mind. The glowing crack in the wall, the blackened shape in her room.. it all seemed so vivid now.

"It was real." She called to Lavender. "I saw it too."

Hermione turned to Ron. "Remember the night you stayed over my house because I saw something?"

"Yeah, Hermione, but I checked, remember? It was nothing." Ron had sobered up his fury, but he was still looking at Hermione as if she was mental.

"No, Ron. Whatever attacked Lavender was in my bedroom that night."

* * *

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	6. Confessions of a Dead Man

A/N: So this chapter is two days later than usual, but it's also FOUR PAGES longer than usual. I hope it compensates for the lost time. You're all getting so eager about this story and I'm really so thankful for all your feedback! My praises go out to all of you! I hope this chapter makes you do a happy dance!

Angellwings- I'm glad you can't get enough of this story! Updates come about once a week. I'm a college student and that's really all I can manage right now, but I'll keep it up, don't worry!

IsabellaPaige- I love cliffhangers too. They make the world go 'round, really.

Quidditch7- There's lots and lots of mystery, but some of it is solved in this chapter. There's not as much H/G as I wanted to get in here, but there's still some. If you liked the last chapter, I really think you'll like this one!

Zarroc- Thanks, you're just too kind! Thanks for reviewing!

Trixie7- I'm glad that you're intrigued, because I try to keep people intrigued, but I don't always know whether or not I'm doing a good job! Thanks for the reassurance!

Violet Snicket- I took long. Sorry! I'll try to be a little quicker next time!

Harrysmom- Yes, I remember you from my other stories. I'm sorry to confuse you. This story is one of those "there's more going on than it seems" sort of stories, so it's a little hard to follow. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for reviewing.

Love-is-everything- Hermione is a pretty clever witch. I wish I was that good! Haha!

Cappygal116- Now you will find out how Dean just GOES MISSING! I think Ron overreacts a lot, but that's just me. I've been bad about editing, but I did fix the mistake you told me about. I actually still have yet to edit this chapter. Hopefully it's not horrid.

Coolgirlc- I'm really glad you think it's getting good! Hopefully it'll only get better!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 6: Confessions of a Dead Man

It was one of the most awkward moments Hermione had had to deal with since her younger years at Hogwarts. Everyone in the room, including Ron, was staring at her as if she had completely lost her mind. All Hermione had done was seen the same creature Lavender had seen. Why was it so difficult for the others to grasp that idea?

Ron gulped down hard on his Adam's apple. "Hermione, you can't be sure of that. You were drunk."

"You were drunk?" Lavender squeaked at Hermione. She turned to Ron with an expression of gleeful shock. "She was drunk?"

"Shut it, Lavender!"

Seamus' chest puffed up to bellow at Ron. Hermione could see another argument heading their way. She could barely take in all the bad will towards others in the room. She had never seen so many disagreements in a single day. She had to stop this one verbal fight before it turned into a physical one. It was the only slice of hope she had left.

"Yes, I was drunk." Hermione admitted. Lavender and Parvati let out almost identical snickers. Hermione wanted to pummel them both, but getting into a fist fight in order to save Ron from one was just not going to work. She had to keep her cool. "That doesn't mean that I didn't see anything! How often does alcohol make you hallucinate?"

Seamus shrugged. "It's happened once or twice."

"Yes," Ginny sighed, "but how often do you drink?"

"Let's not talk about that."

"Even if I was hallucinating, why would it match up perfectly with Lavender's description of it all?" Hermione sent this question to Harry, who she knew would emphasize with her situation. He'd been accused of being more than just delusional many times over the years. "I saw the glowing crack in the wall! I saw the black figure! I could see its head but I couldn't make out any eyes!"

Harry nodded his head in understanding. "This isn't just a coincidence."

"So," Neville cleared his throat. "This thing was Dean's partner? How? He's a dark creature and a pureblood elitist!"

"Maybe Dean didn't know that." Ron hypothesized. "Maybe this person, creature.. Whatever it was.. set it all up to kill Dean."

The word 'kill did not go over well with the crowd. Parvati let out a sharp cry, Seamus a nervous cough. Everyone else seemed to be very interested in either the floor or the ceiling. Only Ron Weasley could have that effect, Hermione thought to herself.

"There's no solid evidence that Dean is dead. Let's remember that." Hermione's words seemed to comfort the fragile people that surrounded her with the exception of Seamus, who picked the bloody cloak up off the bed and held it in Hermione's face.

"How do you explain that, then?"

Instead of getting angry at this gesture, Hermione gently took the cloak out of his hands. Seamus seemed reluctant to let anyone else touch the only remnants of his best friend, but he eventually let Hermione have it.

Hermione held the piece of clothing directly up to her face so that she could see every detail. Something had to be there to prove whether or not Dean was badly hurt.

To Hermione's surprise, she wasn't the first person to notice an unusual characteristic. It was Ginny who spoke out after examining the robes from over Hermione's shoulder.

"The rip is perfectly straight." She noted. "It's too neat. If someone had been stabbing Dean, the line would be crooked and frayed."

Harry popped up over Hermione's other shoulder. "She's right. I didn't notice that before. And the blood, something about it is, I don't know, odd."

Hermione could see what Harry meant. The blood just didn't look natural. It was far too red to have been sitting there for at least a day, and in contained an iridescent shine.

A solution struck her, but was it possible? It was really rare and quite unstable in the wrong hands. Could it be?

There was only one easy way Hermione knew give her the answers.

She held the cloak out at arms length away from the crowd of friends and yanked out her wand. "Scourgify!"

The cloak remained covered in a thick scarlet liquid. Hermione stared at it with a devilish smile. It still didn't make too much sense, but at least she knew one very important thing. "Dean's not dead. At least, he wasn't when he left this place."

Neville gave her a quizzical look. "How would you know?"

"It's dragon's blood." Hermione said with a cheerful laugh. "A cleaning spell would have removed any human blood right away!"

"Somebody must have planted it." Parvati observed. Behind her, Seamus dipped his wife, gave her a kiss, and let out a loud whoop.

"This still isn't good. He must have been kidnapped." Ron reminded all the others.

"Or he might have gone for some training like he told his mum." Lavender pointed out.

"Don't be so thick!" Ron groaned. "Without telling any of us? Doesn't anybody else find this so-called training the least bit dodgy?"

Hermione had to give Ron some credit. For once in his life, he was actually making sense. Somewhere along the way, his loyalty had at least gained some logic.

"Ron's right." Hermione admitted. She felt her level of power shrinking away in the moments following her words. Ron gave her a charming, cocky smile, and as much as she hated to admit it, her stomach flipped.

"At least we know where he is, right?" Ginny shrugged. "Seamus has been there before."

"I never wanted to go back to that place." Seamus shivered a bit. "I don't see why Dean would ever go there?"

Harry's ears perked up. "What's wrong with it?"

"There are a few rich wizards, but it's mostly poverty and crime. The government is corrupt, it is." Seamus informed them. "It's damn right depressing."

"It doesn't make a difference!" Parvati burst. "He could be there! That's all that matters!"

Seamus nodded his head. It was obvious that Seamus took pity on Parvati and her delicate state of mourning. "I know. I'll leave in the morning."

"No." Parvati shot back. "We're leaving tonight."

Ginny looked absolutely thrilled with Parvati's sudden gust of passion. "All of us."

Hermione looked shiftily from person to person as they all agreed to go on their way to Germany. When all eyes were on her, she gave herself to the cause. They weren't able to get along at all, yet they were all hoping to find a person together. This was not going to be a simple task.

Seamus let in a deep breath and let out an over-exaggerated sigh. "All right, then."

* * *

Hermione had seen images of poverty before, but never anything like this in a wizarding community. The streets of this German city were dilapidated and worn. The buildings looked as if they could crumble at any moment. Hermione was more than unsettled, she was thoroughly disturbed. 

It was just after sunset, yet there was barely anyone out on the streets. The few people the group did pass by wore dirty faces and cloaks that made Ginny and Ron's hand-me-downs look as if they were high fashion. These people called out to them in German. Hermione couldn't understand them, but Seamus insisted that they keep their mouths shut and keep moving.

Why would any country's Ministry let their territory get like this?

Finally they seemed to have reached their destination. It was no better than any other place they had seen, but Seamus led the way in anyway. The building seemed to be a single floor motel with a large bar next to the check-in counter. At least it wasn't as bad on the inside as it was on the outside.

"Why do we have to stay in this place?" Lavender snarled in disgust.

"Well, I don't know about you, dear," Harry began sarcastically, "but I haven't been saving up extra cash for a rescue mission in Germany."

Parvati scowled. Neville snickered. Hermione giggled, and Ron blatantly let out a loud "HA!"

"Plus, I'm familiar with this place." Seamus regretfully admitted to his wife. "This is where we stayed for training. That means Dean is familiar with it too."

"So he could be here!" Neville piped up. "Why don't you ask?"

"I really don't speak German." Seamus shrugged. "I know a bit, but not enough to carry out a conversation with the bloke behind the desk."

"Then how are we supposed to find him?" Lavender questioned. Hermione couldn't help but ask the same question in her mind. Perhaps they didn't think this over well enough.

Seamus rolled his eyes. He marched over to the counter looking completely disgruntled. When he finally got the attention of the wizard standing there, he grunted out. "Wo ist Dean Thomas?"

Goodness, his German accent was appalling.

The man behind the counter looked very uncomfortable. Hermione wondered if Seamus had said something offensive or just because of the nasty face with which he stared at the desk clerk. After a moment, however, the clerk moved to a large book by the wall, muttered something inaudible, read whatever was on that page, and returned to Seamus.

"Er hat Zimmer257 heute morgen verlassen." He said in a very casual tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny whispered to the rest of the group, who waited a few meters back.

"I don't know, Ginny." Ron laughed. "You see, we sent the man who speaks German up there! If you hadn't realized this during other childhood, I only speak one language."

Seamus stalked back over. "Well, that didn't help much."

"What happened?"

"I asked him 'Where is Dean Thomas?' It wasn't a very formal way to start conversation, but that's all I can really say. He looked at the records and told me Dean left room 257 this morning."

"So he was here!" Parvati squealed.

"But he's not anymore." Neville added. Parvati shot him a look of distain.

Hermione couldn't believe how close they were, yet some of the details were so far away. "Did you ask if he was alone or not?"

Seamus snorted. "I don't know how to ask that! I could barely get out 'Where is Dean Thomas,' Hermione!"

"Well, let's start with this place, then. We need to check in anyway, so we might as well investigate." Harry suggested

"Alright then, two rooms." Ginny announced as if the others had no say in the matter. "Lavender, Seamus, Parvati and Neville will go in one room, me and this lot in the other room." She jerked a thumb toward the trio standing next to her.

"I am not sharing a bed with Neville!" Parvati shrieked immediately.

Neville scoffed. "Don't worry! I'd much rather sleep on the floor, trust me!"

"I'll get the room while you settle the bickering." Seamus said to his wife before walking away.

"We are not bickering!" Parvati looked like she had just received the worst of insults. "I do not bicker, especially not in public."

"You just offend mates instead?" Neville raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"Oh, quiet." Ginny said in a voice that wasn't cruel at all. In fact, the tone seemed quite amused. "None of us need to hear it, you know."

"I just want to sleep." Hermione added. "I could care less about what everyone else does for the rest of the night."

"You should care about what Ron does." Ginny smirked. "His snoring will keep you up until all hours of the morning."

"Hey!" Ron began to protest, but before he could start trouble with his youngest sibling, Seamus returned looking quite unhealthy.

"I got our rooms." He informed the crowd that had been waiting less than patiently. "255 and 257."

An hour later, room 257 had been completely ransacked by one very irritated group of young wizards. They stood scattered throughout the room looking equally distraught.

"Nothing!" Seamus growled. "Nobody can find any trace of him?"

Everyone looked around the room, averting their eyes from Seamus' glare. Neville shifted his foot across the thick brown carpet. "It's not our fault, you know."

"You're all hopeless!" Seamus began to carelessly throw things back into place, banging the furniture as hard as possible into the other surfaces around them. He whipped around to Hermione after screeching a chair back under the side table. "Even you didn't find anything?"

Hermione understood that Seamus was upset about Dean's disappearance, but he was getting ridiculous. Why did he blame everyone else for not finding the clues that he couldn't find himself? It wasn't her job to solve the mystery, so why did Seamus act as if he was depending on her?

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hermione cooed with a very fake smile plastered on her face. "Is this the part where the clever one is supposed to suddenly come up with the answers?"

Seamus definitely fell down to reality at that moment and he hit the ground hard. "I wasn't saying that you-"

"It doesn't work that way, Seamus." Hermione interrupted. "You need t deal with your insecurities yourself. Meanwhile, we'll need to look somewhere else before we can figure out where Dean has gone."

"I've had enough!" Lavender proclaimed, taking a step forward and waving her arms frantically.

Parvati sighed. "Maybe we should all just go to bed."

Seamus walked toward the doorway. "Come on Lav. Let's go get some rest."

"What about the room you just tore apart?"

Ron's yell was answered from a distance. The couple had already entered the other room across the hall.

"Have a good night!"

* * *

Hermione had spent a good amount of time cleaning up the room with Harry, Ron and Ginny before finally going to sleep in the early hours of the morning. She wanted nothing more than to claw Seamus' eyes out when they all met to discuss their strategy the next day. 

"Alright." Hermione announced. "We'll split into pairs. Obviously, Seamus and Lavender will be together. Parvati will be with Neville."

"Oh come on!" Neville cried out in protest. Hermione smirked to herself but continued on without a response to his comment.

"Ron and Harry will go together, and I will partner up with Ginny."

Parvati's head snapped up from its previous sulking position. "Why can't I go with Ginny?"

"Hermione's going with me." Ginny told the whining woman.

"Why can't Hermione go with Neville?"

"And why do Harry and Ron get to go alone together?" Neville asked. "They're likely to get themselves killed, you know that!"

"No, I am likely to get myself killed." Harry answered with a straight face and an official voice as if he were not offended at all. "Ron will simply be there to watch."

Ginny sigh and whirled around to Hermione. "Maybe we should split up and partner up with one of these two." She jutted her thumb toward Harry and Ron. "It's not that I don't want to go with you, but it's the fair thing to do."

"And it'll shut Miss Patil up." Harry mumbled.

Ginny and Harry shared a quick laugh and then stared at each other a little longer than needed. Hermione knew exactly what Ginny was trying to do. The youngest Weasley was lucky that Hermione would sacrifice her own sanity for a friend.

"Fine." She gave in with a huff. "Ginny, you go with Harry. I'll stick with your brother."

"Who no longer has a name." Ron added with a roll of the eyes.

"Sorry, Ronald."

"Are we done with that?" Seamus growled. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get on with this."

"Get on with it then!"

Seamus held up a large piece of parchment and unfolded it on one of the beds. The map drew out every nook of the German wizarding town where they stayed. Buildings on the map disappeared and reappeared at random as they stared at it.

Seamus circled his finger over a small area in the upper right corner of the map. "This is where the International Auror training took place, or at least, it used to be here. I'm most familiar with it, so that's where Lavender and I will be going."

Nobody seemed to protest. The next search area covered the right side of the map moving toward the center. "This is all high end living. It's mostly occupied by filthy rich government officials and foreigners. Since Dean's got more money than most of the people in this place, it's possible he'll be there. This area is for Parvati and Neville."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. Seamus' plan certainly seemed to be working in the favor of those to which he was closest.

"The eastern part of the center is where it starts to get creepy. Still, almost every family that managed to stay together is in this area. I figure Ron and Hermione can held it. You've just got to watch your back. You look like you may have money and frankly, they get desperate."

Hermione and Ron were now in imminent danger, but Seamus and his love were not. How convenient.

"Harry and Ginny will go to what's rest of the city." Seamus informed them. "This has got to be the worst part of town. Be careful who try to communicate with, and certainly don't trust anyone. They're all crooks and murderers, that lot."

"Why is it that Harry Potter sent down the path of certain death?" Ginny fumed.

Harry shrugged. "Well, not certain death." Nobody paid any attention to his comment.

Ginny continued on. "Why aren't you going that way? You're the one who claims to know everything about this town!"

"What the hell are you trying to say?" Seamus huffed, looking bothered in a way that exposed more than just anger.

"Isn't it just lovely?" Ron began, agreeing with what his sister was saying. "You, your wife, and your wife's best friend go to the safest part of the city. Meanwhile, everyone less important to you gets to rot in its bowels."

"Oh Christ!" Seamus belted out. "You know I have reasons for all of this! Don't take it like I'm trying to kill you off!"

Hermione took a very feminine stance, putting both hands on her hips and shifting her weight to one side. "What are your reasons, then?"

"Obviously, you all have more experience with the dark arts." Seamus gulped.

Harry shook his head in disgust. "So that makes it okay for you to throw even Hermione and Ginny in there?"

"If you haven't noticed, Harry," Seamus gave Harry an obvious look of reason. "Hermione and Ginny can handle trouble… They're a little less, well, fragile."

"How am I fragile?" Parvati gasped.

"How am I not fragile?" Ginny shot back, but she didn't wait for an answer.

Her impatience only looked to be building as Seamus stumbled for an answer, and eventually she cried out "I don't care anymore! You all can figure this out. I'll be at the bar." She shook her head rapidly as if trying to regain her senses. "Merlin, I need firewhiskey."

She stormed away from the group without hesitation. Harry looked perplexed for a moment as his eyes traveled back and forth between the friends in front of him and Ginny in the distance. "Ginny!" He yelled out, and with that finally ran after his partner.

"Do you see what I mean?" Seamus pointed out. "She breathes fire at me and then needs whiskey to calm her nerves."

Neville shrugged. "So she's not the epitome of fragile. Still, she's a good girl."

"I don't even want to be discussing this with you lot." Ron grumbled, combing a hand through his fire red hair. "Let's just set off now on our searches so that we're not out there when night falls."

"I completely agree." Lavender locked her arm around Seamus' and began walking away, blabbering about how she couldn't stand this anymore. Hermione felt her pain.

Parvati reluctantly followed directly behind them with Neville in tow.

"Let me get my wand." Ron walked back toward the room slowly, as if his entire body was sore.

"How did you sleep last night?" Hermione inquired, simply trying to make friendly conversation. The reply she got was a groan.

"Harry kicks in his sleep." Ron informed her. "I don't know how any woman could share a bed with him. Actually, I don't know why I had a share a bed with him."

"Would you prefer Ginny slept with him?" Hermione waggled her eyebrows at Ron with a devious grin covering her face.

Ron made a guttural noise as he picked up his wand. "Good point."

"I resent that!" A voice called out from across the room. To Hermione's surprise, the voice was not an angry one, but filled with cheer and vibrancy.

Ginny Weasley stood with her arms on either side of the doorway, Harry Potter standing directly behind her with his head on her shoulder. Both of them were smirking like fools.

"What happened?"

"We found Dean!" Ginny squealed, entering the room and running up to Hermione. She grasped the older girl's shoulder and shook her quickly.

Ron gaped at them. "At the bar?"

"No, you daft git!" Ginny couldn't help but give her brother an irritated look.

"There was a man at the bar who spoke English." Harry began their story before Ginny could. Ginny looked a bit disappointed. "He heard us talking and commented to us on the large number of British guests lately. He said he gave directions to a British wizard a few days ago."

"To a place in town called Pogertey's Village." Ginny injected.

"The funny thing, he said, was that the man had a logo of a muggle sports team drawn on his trunk. West Ham soccer."

Hermione's eyes lit up. What a brilliant stroke of luck! Now all they had to do was figure out what exactly was going on.

"Was he alone?" Ron asked.

"The man said he didn't notice. A bit under the influence, you see."

"However," Ginny said with a sultry voice. "My brilliant partner got directions to Pogertey's Village."

Harry laughed. "I couldn't have done it if you didn't go to the bar."

"Yes, but you're the one who did all the talking." Ginny returned the compliment.

"Oh come off it!" Ron growled. "Let's get to this village you speak of."

* * *

The directions to Pogertey's Village were actually quite simple. The village was an area full of small shacks with the owner's house in the center. It was nicer than the place they had stayed in the night before, but not by much. 

The owner had no idea what Hermione was trying to say to him, but every time they said "Dean Thomas," he pointed to the same little shanty. It was an obvious sign.

Now they stood waiting outside the door with their wands out, preparing themselves for whatever lay inside the house.

"One." Harry whispered, flicking his wand.

The inside of the house seemed to be quiet. Was this really the right place?

"Two."

Surely Dean could afford to stay in a place that was a little better than this. Maybe the landlord just wanted them to leave him in peace.

"Three! Alohamora!"

Ron's foot crashed into the front room. It was too late to turn back now.

They all stood facing different directions as they entered. The hallway behind the doorway was completely empty. A room lay at the end of the hallway. They tiptoed toward it before leaping in. It was obviously a kitchen, and it was obviously empty.

There was a door off the side of the kitchen, and with another count of three, they stormed into that room. It was a bedroom. Books lay scattered about and clothes sat on the floor, but nothing in the room was breathing.

"There's nothing here." Ginny cried. "This is all that's left in the house. What are we missing?"

Just as Ginny finished, a toilet flushed from what Hermione had assumed to be a clothing closet. Now she realized it was actually a water closet.

All four wizards pointed their wands at the door. When the handle jiggled and the door finally opened, one astonished Dean Thomas stared back at them.

"Dean!" Ginny cried. "Wash your hands!"

Dean took a minute, but then sputtered out. "Have you seen the water? It's brown."

"Forget it!" Harry said. "We need to get you out of here. You're not safe."

Suddenly Hermione remembered it too. She had been so thrilled, she almost forgot that Dean was taken from them.

"I'm perfectly safe." Dean replied without as much as a shrug of excitement.

"Are you kidding?" Ron gave the room a quick look. "Who took you here? Did you see his face?"

Dean looked absolutely confused. "What?"

"Someone destroyed your room and put blood all over one of your cloaks." Hermione informed Dean. "You don't remember any of that?"

Dean looked more disappointed than Hermione had ever seen him before. He did a slouchy walk over to his bed and plopped down.

"Listen mates, it's not like that." He threw his hand down into his hands. "I didn't expect anyone to find me, let alone look for me."

"What?" Harry gasped.

"You mean you weren't kidnapped?"

"It's not my fault!" Dean yelled out. "It's that damn law! My life was perfect! Absolutely perfect! Then the Ministry has me buying a diamond ring for a woman I'm not even sure that I love!"

The tears were watering up in Dean's eyes. "Parvati is lovely, butit drove me crazy. Suddenly nothing made sense! I need to leave England for good."

"So you killed yourself off?" Ginny looked absolutely appalled. "You let us shed our tears while you hid in Germany?"

"It's not like that!" Dean was going to give an explanation, but another thought popped into Ron's head that didn't give Dean the chance to excuse himself.

"Parvati found the ring, you know." Ron stated. "She's out there looking for you with Seamus, Lavender and Neville!"

Dean nodded his head sorrowfully. "I'm glad she found it. At least she knows."

Ron's knuckles cracked as he formed a fist. "You're a twisted bastard!"

"No!" Hermione called out. Ron stopped and turned toward her, his hands easing down by his sides. "Ron, you can't do that."

After a look of exasperation, Ron stepped back. Hermione tried to look as gentle as possible as she knelt down next to Dean. "Dean, you have to come back to England."

"How?" With this, a few tears began to leak down Dean's cheeks. "I'm already dead. I can't face the Ministry, Hermione!"

"I'm trying to appeal the law." Hermione blurted out quickly. "I have a great argument, I think. If I win the case, you don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. If I lose the case," Hermione sucked in a deep breath "then you can make arrangements to leave once again."

To Hermione's surprise, Dean let his head move in a slow, reassured nod. "What about my supposed death?"

"We lie." Ron suggested from behind them. Hermione turned around to see Ron shooting a little smirk at Dean. "We say you were kidnapped and you escaped. We caught on to the kidnappers trail and found you on the streets. Simple as that."

"Parvati and the others will never have to know." Ginny reassured him.

"Alright," Dean agreed. He shuffled around his bed for a moment before standing up and pointing at objects one by one. They zoomed into his trunk; narrowly missing someone's head on many occasions.

Hermione approached Ron slowly and mumbled "Thank you for helping me convince him."

"I didn't convince him of anything." Ron shrugged as he smiled down at Hermione. She held her breath for a moment, but she didn't quite know what caused her to do so. "I just suggested some deception. You're the one that convinced him. You were wonderful."

Hermione's heart pumped just a bit faster than usual. Oh goodness, she must be turning beet red.

"Thank you." She replied meekly.

She wanted to say something more. She wanted to be clever or invite him to celebrate sometime, but she never got the words out.

"I'm ready." Dean announced. "I want to go home."

* * *

Last chapter there were ten reviews, which is the record for a single chapter in this story so far! 

Do you think you can beat that record this time?

I DARE YOU!


	7. Coming Around

A/N: I'm smack in the middle of final exams, but I still managed to pump out this chapter for you. I had a really fun time writing this on because there are lots of big moments in here. Also, this is my last post until after Christmas, so MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HANNUKAH! HAPPY KWANZAA! Or if you're an atheist, just enjoy your week!

Violet Snicket- I'm being congratulated on a story? That really makes me feel special! Thank you! There's lots of R/H fluff in here for you to enjoy!

Zarroc- The record wasn't beat, but there was a valiant effort from the home team. Thank you so much for supporting this story!

Love-is-everything- That's definitely not the ending! They still have to figure out the law and the mysterious creature and their love lives! I think that bad will sucks, but it's needed to a point. A story doesn't work if it's all just happy.

Cappygal116- They decided to go to Germany because the letter from Dean's mom talked about Dean going to another country he'd gone to with Seamus before, and the only country Dean had gone to with Seamus was Germany, where they stayed in that wizarding town. Bam! That's how it all works out!

Coolgirlc- Haha! Eager, are we? Good! I like enthusiasm!

Quidditch7- It does seem fishy, doesn't it? However, it was just a twist. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I've been really weak on the H/G segments, and I'm really apologetic to you especially. I'll certainly work on it in the future because you write such lovely reviews for me.

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 7: Coming Around

"I can't believe you didn't see his face either!" Lavender jabbered on as Dean and his search party lay exhausted in the home Lavender shared with Seamus the next morning. "I mean, I had only seen him for a minute and Hermione was in the dark, so that's understandable. But he kidnapped you, brought you to that awful house in Germany, tied you up and left you to die! It's amazing you never saw his face!"

"He was heavily subdued, Lavender." Ron reminded her. "Otherwise he would have struggled all the way to Germany."

Ron looked over to Hermione, looking for a sign of approval. Hermione made sure nobody else was looking in their direction and then gave him a quick smile and a nod of the head. She didn't know if this lie of theirs would last, but they were all doing damn well so far.

Seamus tapped his thumbs on his knees. "So this thing is a strong male with a black body."

Dean's head shot up. He looked in Hermione's direction with a stern face and then looked down at his own skin.

"Not like the skin colour either." Hermione amended Seamus' previous statement quickly. "Dead black, like the night sky. From what I could tell in the dark, he didn't have much eye colour either."

Dean nodded in acknowledgement of this new fact and added "I didn't see much of him besides the black arms, myself. I figured they could have been some sort of costume."

"Well, it may have been. It's certainly not a creature." Hermione told them all.

"How would you know?" Ginny inquired, sipping on a glass of pumpkin juice as she sat next to Harry on the love seat. The two had been very friendly since their return from Germany, and Hermione wondered if something had happened at that bar that she had missed.

"This is Hermione, Gin." Ron pointed out.

Harry gestured in agreement. "Obviously she's scoured the local library looking for clues."

Hermione tried not to blush. She hated it when the boys called out her every move like that. It made her feel like a complete fool. It wasn't her fault nobody else tried to search for the answers.

"I tried to see if it was some sort of shadow-born creature, but it just didn't fit any of the descriptions. This is obviously a magical power, but it's not something we would have found in the dark forest. There's nothing like it on record anywhere."

Everyone looked a little bothered by the news. Hermione was a little bothered telling them the news. If this was a creature, it wasn't known to wizards, thus they had no idea how to deal with it or how lethal it was. Then, of course, there was the other point.

"If it isn't a magical creature, what the hell is it?" Parvati piped up.

Neville leaned forward in his chair. "Maybe it's not living."

"Like inferi?" Harry attempted to build upon Neville's theory.

"Inferi wouldn't have been able to speak." Ginny shook her head at the two men, dashing their hypothesis to dust. "Lavender was threatened. It just doesn't work out."

"Did he speak to you too, Dean?" Lavender asked in the most motherly of voices she could muster.

Dean snapped out of the daze of confusion he had drifted into over the past few moments. "Oh," he stumbled with his words. "No. He didn't. Not at all."

"Well," Neville spoke up, "I didn't mean like inferi. I think it could be some sort of magical apparition."

Ron snorted into his tea. "Something tells me that an apparition wouldn't be able to hit so hard."

"What's your brilliant idea then?" Neville gave Ron the most ghastly of looks he could muster up.

"I think it was just one fucked-up wizard." Ron stated quite plainly.

Everyone paused for a moment as they ran over Ron's thesis. Their facial expressions began to randomly change to a look of disbelief or a look of understanding. This was just another topic they were going to debate.

"How the hell would a human being look like that?"

Seamus brought up an interesting point. Anatomically, the average height and appendages were the same as a human; otherwise the angle from which Lavender was hit would have been much different. Still, nothing explained the blackened body.

"It makes sense." Hermione hated admitted that Ron was right. When did he suddenly gain the ability to think reasonably? Maybe she just had that effect on her close friends. Or maybe, she thought for a whimsical second, he was trying to impress her.

Hermione began to blink rapidly. She had to finish her explanation before she drifted into her fantasy world. "It has the same size and shape as a human and it uses our language. We'd just have to find something to account for its body."

Seamus pouted on his sofa, his arms crossed and his face scrunched up. "I still think it was a magical apparition."

"And we can't rule out the possibility of inferi." Harry held on to his theory. "Just because there's no record of them ever talking doesn't mean that they can't talk."

"It's just some guy!" Ron shouted in an exasperated voice.

Seamus rolled his eyes. "That's absolutely ridiculous, Weasley! Potter's just as bad."

"Like your theory is any better." Harry scoffed.

"So Seamus, you're saying that you make sense and we don't?"

"Yeah, I am."

"You're absolutely wrong. I'd bet on it!"

Hermione wanted to cover her eyes so she wouldn't have to see this anymore. She couldn't believe that Ron had just suggested a bet to an Irishman.

"Fine!" Seamus announced to Ron and Harry with the rest of the room as witnesses. "Fifty galleons each!"

Ron looked a bit shifty at the prospect. "Twenty-five!"

"Thirty!"

"Deal!"

Hermione laughed to herself. She never understood what possessed them to bet on everything. That was one thing about Ron she adored. He was so passionate that he could never just agree to disagree.

Wait! Why was she thinking about Ron like this? She needed to figure herself out and she needed to do it fast.

* * *

This conversation eventually led off into an hour of relentless quidditch talk that ended only after Lavender fell asleep and began to snore awkwardly. Seamus attempted to pick her up and bring her to their bed by himself, but after much struggling he asked for Neville's assistance.

Hermione help but smile like a crazy woman at the sight. She'd never actually had a problem with Lavender until recently. However, Lavender had been more than unpleasant the last few days and Hermione felt it necessary to revel in the moment during which she realized her former roommate was, in fact, a cow.

A strange throat clearing noise from the sofa attracted Hermione attention back to the room in which she was sitting. It was Dean. He and Parvati were staring at each other, an unsettled tension lingering between them.

It just wasn't Hermione's place to be sitting there with Harry, Ron and Ginny. Parvati had the ring and Dean knew she did. The conversation they needed to have would get harder with every passing moment.

Hermione caught eyes with Ginny. "I'm going to make some more tea. Why don't you come with me?"

"Of course!" Ginny leapt up from her seat with obviously false enthusiasm. "Oh, but I'm not sure where Lavender keeps the teabags! Harry, come help me look!"

"Harry doesn't even drink tea." Ron noted casually.

"She left the tea on the tab-" Ginny shot Harry the most gruesome of looks and suddenly he understood. "Oh! Oh, okay! I guess I'll have to help you then!"

Now it was Harry's turn to convince Ron. "Hey Weasley, you're not going to leave me alone with the ladies, are you? Come along!"

Ron shrugged. "It's not like you've never dealt with them one-on-one before, Harry." He certainly was not getting the point.

"But what if we can find the tea?" Harry continued through gritted teeth.

"How many wizards to you think it takes to find a bloody jar of tea leaves?"

Harry's face was beginning to turn purple. Hermione and Ginny watched contently from the doorway. This time they would leave Harry to deal with Ron.

"Ron!" In a poor attempt to muffle his voice, Harry half-yelled and half-grunted this out. He shot a shaky look towards Dean and Parvati. Ron's eyes followed Harry's. He stared at the couple for a moment, shrugged, and turned back to Harry.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Ron asked Harry in a very audible voice as he stood up and walked passed him into the kitchen.

"You're a git."

Ginny hurried toward the kettle. She flicked her wand to get it boiling and let out a deep sigh. "I'm glad to have gotten out of there! The amount of tension between them is absolutely ridiculous."

"Well, they have a lot to work out now." Hermione said as she opened up the jar full of tea leaves.

Harry nodded in agreement. He didn't speak, but he was definitely deep in thought. Chances are, Hermione guessed, he was worried about this would do to Dean in his fragile state.

Hermione had to keep herself busy. She lined up four fresh cups. "Okay! Who's having tea?"

"Me!" Ginny squeaked in response.

"Harry?"

"I can't stand tea."

Ginny looked absolutely mortified. She stared at Harry with her mouth partially opened. "How can you not like tea?"

"I dunno." Harry shrugged. "I've just never fancied drinking it."

"They should have laws against people like you!" Ginny giggled, looking very witty and clever in front of the man Hermione knew she still had feelings for. Maybe it was best to leave them alone.

Hermione let Harry and Ginny continue their playful banter, but she was on a mission involving tea leaves and steaming hot water.

"Ron, do you want some more tea?" No reply. "Ron?"

Hermione surveyed the room, but she didn't immediately notice Ron. It wasn't until the second look around that she noticed Ron wallowing in the shadows by the threshold into the living room.

She tiptoed over, feeling a bit high strung. "Ron! What are you doing?"

Ron turned and gave Hermione a mischievous grin. He was up to no good, and he took no shame it. He actually seemed to be reveling in his own devilish behavior. He put a finger to his lips and pulled Hermione in close to him so that her shadow did not reach into the room where Dean and Parvati sat.

They were sneaking around. They were spying on a very intimate conversation. The worst part was that Hermione enjoyed every second of it.

"I realized in that I may have lost you for good and you would have never known how I really felt." Hermione could hear Parvati whispering. "I don't think I could have dealt with that."

There was a short pause. "It doesn't matter, Parvati. I'm alive and well. I know how you feel and-"

"No, Dean! You don't know!"

Hermione could only imagine that Dean was taken aback by this statement, because his reply was much weaker than before. "Then tell me how you feel."

"I love you, Dean!" Parvati cried out. Hermione's heart dropped.

"You do?" Dean fumbled through his words in shock.

"Yes!"

"Why didn't you tell me? I've had feelings for you for years now!"

Ron gave Hermione a confused look. Wasn't Dean's plan to give Parvati the gentle letdown?

"I never knew!" Parvati giggled. "I've had a mad crush on you since sixth year!"

This moment of joy was followed by deafening silence. Hermione wanted to peak around the corner to see what was going on, but then they would surely be caught.

"Are they snogging, you think?" Ron whispered into Hermione's ear. A chill ran up and down her spine. Her knees buckled, but she still managed to shake her head no.

"You found the ring, didn't you?"

That's what the silence had been about.

"Yeah, I found it." Parvati's voice was smooth and slow. "I still have it with me."

Dean sighed. "Can I see it?"

The distant noises of rustling robes and a small box opening filled the air. There was another pause. Ron began to fidget in anticipation, but Hermione controlled him with a quick elbow jab to the ribs. Still, Hermione had to admit, the suspense was killing her as well.

"I think I might be crazy." Dean muttered. "I wasn't really sure of myself. I'm still not completely sure of myself, but it doesn't matter."

Parvati coughed. Hermione and Ron could hear them wriggling around on the sofa.

Dean continued with his short speech. "I wanted this to be a big surprise. Obviously, it's too late for that. Parvati, I'd love for you to have this, if you'll still accept it."

Hermione was sure that every person, animal, and spirit in the house heard Parvati's squeal of joy. "Oh, Dean! Of course!"

Ron's hands clenched just tight enough around Hermione that he could pick her up a few inches off the ground and run to the center of the room where Harry and Ginny were chatting with Dean and Neville, who had finally come back downstairs.

"What the hell is going on?" Seamus questioned them with a goofy smirk and raised eyebrows.

"Dean and Parvati are engaged."

Ginny sat back in her seat with crossed arms and a skeptical look on her face. "Oh really?"

At that very moment, Parvati burst into the kitchen with Dean just behind her. After they squeezed through the doorway, Dean put his arm around Parvati's waist and they walked toward the others together.

Parvati stuck her left hand in each of their faces in turn.

"Dean and I are engaged!"

Naturally, everyone congratulated them vigorously, but as soon as their backs were turned, Ron let out a grumble.

"Great. Another bloody wedding."

Ron caught Hermione's eye and jerked his head towards the doorway that led outside. She nodded discretely, and as soon as the fuss died down a bit and people began asking inane questions such as "Have you decided the flavor of the cake yet?" Ron slowly got up and walked casually outside. Nobody questioned it. After a minute or two, Hermione got up in the same fashion and hurried through the door.

Ron stood leaning against the house with one leg up, his foot resting just above where the wall met the foundation. He looked cool and calm at first, but then Hermione couldn't help but notice he looked a little anxious.

"Dean and Parvati." Ron spoke out to the backyard, never once peeking over at Hermione. "What d'you reckon?"

Hermione put on a weak smile. "I think it's lovely. I really do."

"I reckon they're screwed."

Ron's pessimistic approach startled Hermione. He knew Ron had always been a bit of a cynic, but never so openly about someone other than Hermione herself.

"Why would you say that?" Hermione could feel the tension growing between them and swallowing her whole. Was this Ron's odd way of confiding in her?

Ron shrugged. "He never told her that he loved her. He said he'd fancied her for years, but he never said he loved her." Hermione thought back to what they had just heard. Ron was right. Why didn't she pick up on that?

Hermione gulped back emotions that had been strangling her for months. "Do you think it's all because of the law? If only I could have fought harder to get an earlier appeal, I could have-"

"No, I don't think it's because of the law. He had options with the handling the law." Ron interrupted Hermione's temporary loss of faith. "I've broken it down. It's either pity or hope."

"What?"

"It could have been pity. Dean may have felt so horrible about breaking Parvati's heart after she'd found the engagement ring that he decided not to break her heart and just marry her. But he also could have had some hope. Maybe he realized that Parvati very well could be the one for him and he decided he'd rather take a chance than muck it all up."

Hermione nodded. Ron had analyzed all this? She had done the same to a point, but hearing all this rational from Ron was truly shocking.

She didn't question it. She simply nodded her head. "I think it was a little bit of both."

There was an eerie silence. A chilly wind whipped through Hermione's hair. She only allowed herself quick glances at Ron. To her surprise, after several glances she noticed Ron had snapped his head to the side and was staring at her. Hermione couldn't help but stare back.

"If I was really serious about marrying a girl, I'd at least tell her I loved her."

Hermione's heart jumped into her throat. She couldn't make a single sound, even if she had known the right words to say.

She didn't have to say anything. Ron was willing to continue. "I mean, I wouldn't throw myself at her, but when you know you just know, right?"

Hermione nodded quickly. Her heart had descended a bit and she managed to squeak out a meek "Of course." Ron looked more anxious than ever. He began wiggling his foot back and forth, leaving brown scuff marks on the white wall. Finally, he managed to speak once again.

"Look, Hermione. I fancy you. I want to you all about how I have since school, but I'd look like a prat." He shook it off quickly. "It doesn't matter. All I'm saying is… I'm not asking you to marry me, okay? Just maybe, if you get the chance, we could spend some time together. Someplace nice. Just the two of us."

Hermione was completely taken aback, but at the same time tremendous joy overwhelmed her. She had never really admitted it to herself, but she knew in that moment that she had been waiting to hear that from him for years.

Ron looked more flustered with every second that ticked by.

Hermione gave him a warm, bright smile. This whole confession was a bit amusing. "I've fancied you for ages, Ron." Hermione let out a laugh. "I'd love to go on a date with you sometime."

"Well, I never said it would be a date," Ron cooed, "but if you insist…"

"You're so wonderfully clever, Ronald." Hermione let out in the most sarcastic tone she could manage while being overpowered by sheer happiness.

Ron sucked in a deep breath, as if he were about to say something else that was deeply important. "Hermione, that's not all of it. There's something else I need to tell you, you know, while we're being straightforward."

Hermione beamed from ear to ear. What more could he possibly tell her? "Go ahead and tell me, then."

"Hermione, I-"

A terrified shriek from within the house cut him off mid-sentence. Without thinking twice, they both rushed into the house.

By the time Hermione got inside, six pairs of feet could be heard trampling up the stairs. Hermione followed in the same direction with Ron quick on her heels. She identified the people in front of her by the backs of their heads: Seamus, Harry, Ginny, Dean, Neville, and Parvati. Where the hell was Lavender?

Seamus swung open the first door on the left, screaming at the sight before him.

It took Hermione a moment to get a visual through the sea of people, but when she finally did, she wished she hadn't.

A tall black creature stood sneering at them with unconscious Lavender snatched up in his arms. It certainly looked like a man, but it was no man Hermione had ever seen. He was hairless and colorless all around. She tried to think up a quick plan of action as this creature turned and began heading toward the large glowing hole that had formed at the intersection of two walls, but Seamus got there first.

"Furnunculus!" He cried out furiously.

Whatever was holding Lavender immediately dropped her. As his body broke out in blisters from Seamus' spell, holding on to anything was much too pain for him. Before he could get hit by anything again, he sprinted toward his glowing device.

However, Seamus wasn't done with him. Now he was going to go after the man with his bare hands.

Seamus was only a two or three meters away when the creature entered the glowing crevice and it began to rapidly shrink.

"Oh no you don't!" Seamus hollered. Hermione couldn't believe this. He had gone completely off his rocker.

Seamus stuck an arm in after it, but that was all he could fit through for a very quick moment. His arm too needed to be jerked out of the glowing crack before the wall carved into it.

When Seamus removed his arm, Hermione quite audibly gasped. Parvati cringed very obviously. Hermione couldn't help but feel grateful that Lavender was unconscious, otherwise Lavender would be having a panic attack.

Seamus' arm had been stripped of all hair and was gleaming at them in scaly solid ebony.

* * *

You knew what would be the best present of them all?

A 2006 Dodge Charger... but let's not go there.

The greatest present YOU could give me is you reviews. I have some really wonderful reviewers and I always love hearing from you!


	8. The Department of Closets

A/N: I finished this yesterday, but I couldn't upload it because my only free time was during the site's downtime. So this is a late update. This is a very late update. All I can say is this: I'm sorry! The holidays have kept me really busy. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Now here is your last chapter of 2005! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Coolgirlc- The next chapter is here! Yay!

Love-is-everything- The Dodge Charger is a really nice American sports car that I could never afford. It was just a silly joke! I'm really happy with this chapter, so I hope you like it!

Trixie7- I like that too. I think that a story loses its meaning when characters are just suddenly like "Oh, I love you!" It takes away from the mystery. I'm glad you agree.

JKWilliams- Wow, thanks! Honestly, I was given a bit of trouble because this is a marriage law fic and that's a really popular genre. Thank you so much for still thinking about the originality of the plot itself instead of the genre.

Cappygal116- Ebony is just another word for black and by solid I just mean that his arm was completely covered in black. I'm not one to be 100 literal, so don't worry about things like that. You'll find out why it wants with Lavender in this chapter. As for what Ron was going to say, we may never know!

Quidditch7- I would never want to give you a heart attack! That would be cruel of me! Your questions about Lavender will be answered briefly in this chapter as well as some questions about what's after her. I love Ron and Hermione moments too. I won't give away what Ron was going to say, but you're on the right track. I will spoil this only for you- there is a VERY big Harry/Ginny moment in the next chapter.

Harrysmom- Ron and Hermione always dance around their feelings. All that matters now is how long they can manage to keep dancing around their feelings! Some of the mystery around Seamus' arm and the thing is revealed here, so enjoy!

Zarroc- I really am glad that you enjoy this so much. You'll see how Lavender and Seamus are in this chapter. You'll also see Ron and Hermione in action this time. You can only have so much fluff before it starts getting crazy!

Violet Snicket- Sorry, but I'm definitely holding back on what Ron was going to say. I think you have a good idea what it's about, but Ron's not going to get it all out for a while now! Still, there will be more R/H moments to enjoy!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 8: The Department of Closets

"Fuck! What the hell is this?" Seamus' screams could be heard throughout the house. He had been furiously scrubbing his blackened appendage for the better part of an hour with Lavender wailing over his shoulder.

Everyone else was downstairs. Hermione sipped her bitter tea anxiously, wracking her mind for a solution.

There was no solution! They'd already tried everything! They had done cleaning spells, healing spells, and grooming spells. Nothing helped Seamus' condition.

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep!" Hermione could hear Lavender blubber from up the stairs. Guilt and sympathy shook through her. "If I wasn't vulnerable, you would have never gotten hurt!"

But Seamus wasn't hurt. He wasn't in any pain or discomfort. He was simply raving like a lunatic because the effects that the glowing light had on his arm. It just didn't make sense.

"That thing did tell Lavender that it would get her if she helped another part-muggle." Parvati sighed.

Dean rested his elbows down on the table. "And then she went and helped me. It's my fault."

In all her rage and confusion, Hermione slammed her teacup down on the table where she sat with everyone besides Seamus and Lavender. Scorching hot tea welled up over the side of the cup, splashing Hermione's hand. She winced, but never moved her hand.

"We have to go to the Ministry!"

Ron knitted his eyebrows, putting his own cup down slowly. "Are you joking?"

"I don't want to do this either, but we have to!" Hermione spoke urgently to the people around her. "We have to realize that we can't always try to handle everything on our own! We can't find this man! We need help!"

Dean shook his head. "You can't get wrapped up in this." He told Hermione. "You have too much to worry about. What about your appeal?"

Fuck. Hermione had completely forgotten about her appeal for the removal of the marriage law. There was no way she'd be able to fight the Ministry and co-operate with them at the same time. It was too complicated.

"I'll do it."

Hermione's head popped up. She caught Ron's eyes right after he spoke and gave him a warm smile. It was because of him that the day had been so lovely and so frustrating all at once. There he was again, helping her through the most grievous of times.

"If I'm able to get the report straight to Tonks or Kingsley, then maybe I won't have to deal with the rest of the Ministry." He shrugged casually and leaned back in his seat, not putting too much thought into it.

"Did Ron Weasley just volunteer to write a report for the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione couldn't tell if Harry was seriously questioning this or if he was joking around. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

Harry didn't have to continue, because Seamus finished Harry's thought for him as he descended the stairs. "Fuck me, times have changed."

Hermione supposed that Harry would not have put it as crudely as Seamus had, but she had to admit, sometimes Seamus' obnoxious behavior was amusing.

Nobody made a comment on Seamus' black arm, but a few of them stared at it for a good long time. Seamus pretended not to notice. After looking for just a bit too long, Ron turned back to Hermione.

"I say that I leave right now." Ron leapt up and sent his chair screeching back into the table. Something seemed to be making him very uncomfortable. Maybe it was just the day as a whole. It had been so eventful that even Hermione had a difficult time processing it all.

"Yeah, sure." Hermione got up much more slowly than Ron. "I'll go with you. I need to do research on the Ministry's bylaws."

"You didn't already do that research?" Ginny seemed very confused as she looked up at Hermione. All Hermione could do was ignore her and follow Ron toward the fireplace.

Ron took a pinch of floo powder before offering the flowerpot the Finnegans kept their floo powder in to Hermione. She took barely enough to have the powder stay stuck in between her fingers. Ron stepped into the fire first and quickly vanished in a burst of emerald flame. The light startled Hermione every time.

Now it was her turn to step into the fireplace with her false pretenses in tow. She tossed the fine powder into the air and called out "The Ministry of Magic!" With that, she was shot through a whirlwind of light and sound before sliding out of a Ministry fireplace, only to be caught by Ron.

She felt dizzy, panicked, and enthralled all at once. Ron's grip sent a quick strike of pain through her arm, but it was easy to ignore.

Ron laughed at Hermione's disorientation for a moment, then his expression changed to something a little more serious.

"So why are you really here, Hermione? We all know you've memorized the Ministry bylaws that you need to know for the case by now."

Hermione sighed. "I want to do some research in the Department of Magical Transportation. I just didn't want to tell Seamus that."

"Why would you do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione was getting a little riled up. Why didn't anyone else notice the facts that stood right in front of them? "That thing is a wizard using some sort of portal! That's what the glowing hole was, a portal!"

"That doesn't mean it's a wizard, other magical creatures can use forms of magical transportation." Ron didn't look like he doubted Hermione, but she could tell that he needed more convincing.

"Seamus' arm went black because it went into the portal. If it worked on Seamus, it must work on all human beings! See? This person's entire body turned black because his entire body went into the portal! We both know that it certainly wasn't a muggle."

Ron stood in the main entrance to the Ministry, blinking rapidly and trying to take in all the information Hermione had just presented to him. After a few moments, he finally came back to reality.

"Lovely." He gulped down so hard Hermione feared he would swallow his Adam's apple. "What exactly should we do about that?"

"I'm going to find out what that portal is." Hermione replied in full confidence. "And I'm going to find out how to stop it from appearing."

Ron paled. "I'm glad I only have to fill out a report."

Hermione had the feeling that her scholarly behavior impressed Ron. Her confidence soared up into the sky, but she couldn't revel in it for too long. Time was scarce.

She began to walk away as coolly as she could, looking back at Ron simply to say "See you later, then."

* * *

Ron hadn't been in contact with the Ministry Aurors for ages. He had seen the Aurors that were in the Order of the Phoenix during friendly occasions, but he had never needed to ask them for help.

The last time he was here was just before the Ministry took Harry, Hermione, and himself for testing. A chill ran down his spine.

"Wotcher, Ron!" A voice called out to him from across the bustling office.

Ron's head swerved around until he finally caught a glimpse of Nymphadora Tonks walking toward him. She tripped over her own foot about halfway through, but quickly regained her footing and hurried along.

It was so hard not to stare. Ron couldn't understand why Tonks, a metamorphmagus, didn't choose to hide a particular feature… and what a very large feature it was.

"Tonks!" Ron's words were a bit shaky as he repeatedly told himself not to stare. "You've-"

"Gained weight?"

Tonks laughed. The sense that Tonks found her weight gain amusing scared Ron a bit.

"I don't mean that in a bad way!" Ron squeaked out even though he had never actually said anything aloud. "My mother is rather plump and she's lovely!"

Tonks continued to laugh as quietly as she could.

"Goodness, Ron! I haven't seen you in over a year, but I expected your mum would have told you!" Tonks ran a hand through the shoulder-length brown hair she'd selected to keep as her own a few years ago.

Ron felt like a complete arse. How had he ever missed out on his mother's gossip? "Actually I haven't seen my mum in a while." He lied, letting out a tiny cough of guilt.

"That's a shame." Tonks commented quickly. "Anyway, Remus and I are expecting a baby soon. I'm afraid it hasn't done much for my figure and you just can't transform something that fragile. Still, I can't complain. I've never been happier!"

Ron's eyes widened. "Blimey! I'm sorry about that! Congratulations!"

The words spewed from Ron's mouth faster than Tonks could take them in. Ron hadn't felt so foolish in a very long time. At the same time, he couldn't have been more excited for Tonks and Lupin.

"Yup!" Tonks chirped. "The only downside is that I'm never on duty anymore. It's all just paperwork."

"So would you be the person to file a report with?"

Tonks stared Ron down for a moment. If she hadn't thought something fishy was going on when Ron entered the office, she definitely thought so now. "I would be. Why do you ask?"

"There's been an issue."

"What kind of issue?" Tonks crossed her arms.

"Lavender Brown was attacked at her wedding and again today. It might have tried to attack Hermione too, but Hermione raised too much alarm and it ran off."

Tonks was at a loss for words.

"We think it was a wizard." Ron added.

Tonks uncrossed her arms, tapped her foot a few times, and crossed her arms again. She motioned for Ron to follow her, then scurried into a very small room away from everyone else.

As soon as Ron entered, Tonks slammed the door shut. "You think it was a wizard? You don't know?"

"Well, it travels through this portal that makes its body turn black. Seamus tried to go after it and when he put his arm in it turned black too. That must mean something. Plus, they both went hairless as well. I dunno all the details. Hermione's researching it all right now."

When Ron was done rattling all his information, he looked up at Tonks. She was a bright witch, but Ron could tell this was confusing her beyond belief.

"I know you think I'm completely off my rocker," Ron continued, "but other people saw it too! Harry, Hermione, Ginny and loads of other people saw it too!"

"Why didn't you lot inform me of this earlier?"

Ron let out a sigh. "All of this just came out today." He felt a little bad. He couldn't remember ever lying to Tonks this much.

"All right then." Tonks began to shuffle through the drawers of a desk, the only piece of furniture in the room. She hauled out a massive roll of parchment and a quill. "You'll need to fill all this out."

Ron's stomach lurched at the sight. "Why did I volunteered to do this?" A voice in his head groaned.

"To impress a girl." Another voice answered back quite simply.

With that, Ron leaned over the paperwork, knowing that the matter was settled.

* * *

Hermione hadn't been looking through the documents in the Department of Magical Transportation for more than an hour, but she felt like she had been there for days.

There were hundreds of files on apparation, the floo network, portkeys, and brooms, but there was barely anything on less popular forms of magical travel.

Hermione knew they were many different types of portals, but she also knew that they all went out of style a long time ago. The files on portals were now considered obsolete. They were damn near impossible to find.

Still, Hermione had as many files as she could handle piled up on the table before her. She found details in broom types, along-side apparation, splinching, how to connect to the floo network, how to make a portkey, but nothing special.

Finally, she opened up a document that looked promising.

"Alternate Forms of Travel: Ancient Methods." She read aloud to herself. She scanned the table of contents to find a section completely dedicated to the different types of portals. Her heart leapt as she flipped to the correct page and began looking through it.

It certainly wasn't a standard portal. It wasn't a public portal either, as it had appeared in Hermione's private residence.

For that matter, it couldn't have been a private residence portal, because a wizard needed to be authorized to travel between two homes even in ancient times.

And what of workplace portals? These transferred a wizard from a registered workplace to a private residence without any authorization and one of the side effects was the discoloration of the skin, but Hermione seriously doubted this beast of a man was getting to them through a registered workplace.

Despite the little information on it, the detection portal was the only type that made sense.

After all, the first line on detection portals read "These are the most damaging and dangerous of all portals." Hermione read on, trying to ignore how her hand trembled.

The detection portal was developed in Ancient times for emergency purposes. It allowed wizards to travel to a location without prior knowledge of where the area is or what the location looked like. However, this had devastating on the body and mind alike, temporarily darkening any body part it touched and causing violent mood swings after usage.

Over the years, the top-secret incantation used to open a detection portal had leaked out to darker forces. Hermione couldn't help but groan when she read the last line. "All files containing further detail were destroyed during the terrorism of the evil wizard Grindewald in the early 1940s."

Now she knew what type of portal it was, but she had no idea how to stop it! All the information on the subject had been destroyed.

It was a bookworm's worst nightmare.

Hermione plopped her forehead down on to the table for a moment as she tried to regain her sanity. It had come down to the point where she could do nothing more. She had to give up.

Figuring that Ron might have been able to get some information, she gathered all her belongings and made her way toward the exit.

She had only walked a few paces down the corridor when a passing wizard pummeled her to the ground. He didn't even apologize, but hastily moved toward a storage room to Hermione's right.

Hermione was livid. She wanted nothing more than to shout abuse at him, but when she looked up from where she sat, she couldn't say a word. The man was covered in thick robes that covered almost every inch of his body. The hood was tied tightly around his head.

The only piece of skin Hermione could see was his fingertips. They were black as midnight.

The man had entered the room before Hermione had managed to stand up again. She scurried toward the door and whipped it open carelessly. She could hear those familiar footsteps running through the room, but it was much larger than she had expected.

Hermione knew very well that it could be a trap. It was a maze of shelves covered in useless parchment and gadgets. She needed help.

She needed Ron.

Hermione slammed the door shut, wisely locked it with a strong charm she had learned during the war, and ran full speed toward the stairs. She didn't care who saw her. She had to get to the Aurors Department immediately.

She was huffing and puffing by the time she'd reached the correct floor, but she only did what was necessary. There was no way she could have wasted all that time on the lift. What if the wizard had broken out by then? What if he had broken out already?

The entrance was in plain sight now, but Hermione was still running as fast as she could. Her side cramped, but she kept moving.

Before she could actually move through the threshold, she slammed into someone who was exiting. Her speed and the force of the impact made her fall to the ground for the second time in a few short minutes.

"Merlin, Hermione!" Hermione breathlessly lifted her head to see that she had bumped into Ron himself. "What the hell are you doing?"

"The man who went through the portal…" Hermione's voice was raspy and she found it especially hard to speak. "He's here!"

Ron snatched his hand out of his back pocket and began pointing it in every direction. "Where is he?"

"I locked him in a storage closet on the second floor." Hermione coughed out. She outstretched her arm and Ron pulled her up with a single tug.

"How the fuck did you manage to lock him in a closet?" Ron said, looking absolutely baffled at the thought of Hermione simply taking such a devious wizard and locking him in a closet.

Hermione shrugged. Now was not the time to explain. She was about to take off again, but another voice delayed her.

"Hermione! How lovely to see you!" Hermione looked passed Ron to see Tonks waving cheerfully. "Is everything all right out here? I heard excited voices."

"Oh, well, you know us." Hermione snickered, receiving an odd look from Ron. "We're just debating. Nothing to worry about."

Tonks didn't seem to believe Hermione, but she accepted Hermione's excuse anyway. "All right then, just call for me if you need any help." Tonks pointed to her wand. "You know how."

Hermione knew Tonks was referring to the Order of the Phoenix's method of communicating through a patronus, but Hermione didn't have time to dwell on it.

As soon as Tonks was out of sight, Hermione began running once again with a flabbergasted Ron at her heels.

"Why is it that you didn't tell Tonks?" He questioned.

"What if there's a duel?" Hermione called out for everyone to hear as they ran along. Many people gave them awkward glances, but Hermione paid no mind to it. "It's too dangerous! She's pregnant, after all!"

Ron made a guttural noise of outrage. "You knew? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you already knew!"

The rest of their race through the Ministry was silent. When they finally reached the door of the dreaded storage closet, Hermione carefully removed her charm.

She expected a plan to be laid out quickly before they entered, but nothing of the sort happened. Ron yanked the door open and moved in with his wand at the ready. Hermione clicked her tongue, but still followed suit.

The sight that lay beyond her wand was certainly not what she had expected.

The entire room had been torn apart. Almost all the shelves were knocked on to their sides. Ripped parchment covered almost every inch of the floor. Almost everything was broken.

Best of all, Hermione and Ron were pointing their wands at the Minister of Magic and his personal assistant.

* * *

Cliffhanger! Muahahaha!

Forgive me for being so evil. I love you all, truly!

Please review and let me know whether or not this chapter was effective! I'm interested to see what YOU think went on in the closet situation!

Next chapter: THE DATE! What will happen!


	9. Hysteria at Mysteria

A/N: IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I'm sorry! I've missed you, my pretties! Vacation has made me lazy, but I'm back to school in just over a week and I'll be back on schedule then! I'll probably pump out another chapter before that as well! This chapter is the big date! There's lots of fluff for all to enjoy!

Zarroc- It's amazing how they always manage to get into trouble, isn't it? I'm sure they'll find their way out in this chapter!

Love-is-everything- Cliffie, indeed. I love writing cliffhangers so much, and I love adding a little mystery! I'm glad that you find it all mysterious!

Quidditch7- You'll get your answers about the Minister right now. Lots of things are happening to these characters. Things are not always what they seem. Here's your H/G moment, too!

Violet Snicket- I never get sick of reviews, especially positive reviews! I love that you like the lines, because conversation is the hardest part to write. It gives me a lot of confidence to see that you like it!

Cappygal116- There's lots of mystery in the last chapter. Some of your questions were answered here, so will be answered a bit later on! I promise, by the end of the tale, everything will be clear to you!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 9: Hysteria at Mysteria

Hermione tried to speak, but a strange choking noise was all she managed to get out.

Scrimgeour was leering at Ron and Hermione in outrage. It was as if they had committed a crime. "So you're the people responsible for this!"

She immediately pocketed her wand, but Ron's wand didn't move an inch. It only served to make the situation more embarrassing for Hermione.

"We didn't do anything!" Ron growled with his wand now pointed firmly on Scrimgeour. "It seems like you're the one who has to explain how they got here!"

"A security alert was triggered by an unauthorized entrance to this area! As Minister, it is my duty to investigate!" Scrimgeour's eyes narrowed down on Hermione. "There was a nasty locking charm on the door. So my assistant and I had to use an advanced apparition procedure that can only be used in case of emergency."

Ron gulped. "Oh." His wand was slowly lowered. Hermione paced herself for the blow yet to come.

"And how exactly did such a complicated lock end up on a Ministry door, Miss Granger?"

"I saw a suspicious man enter the room who I believe to have threatened me in the past, Mr. Scrimgeour." Hermione informed him as calmly as possible. She didn't want to lose her nerve in front of the Minister of Magic. He'd proven in the past that he wasn't afraid to take action against her. This occasion probably wouldn't be any different.

Ron coughed, adding in a small yet relevant detail. "I just filed a report with the Aurors if you'd like to read it."

Hermione smirked. Scrimgeour continued to look livid. This did not bode well.

"Yet you didn't see it fit to report this incident to the Aurors before taking it into your own hands?" Scrimgeour looked as if he had defeated an enemy army in a crucial battle. He was smug beyond belief.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Sir, there was no time. This man was-"

"I understand that the Order of the Phoenix chooses not to co-operate with the Ministry," The over-zealous Minister interrupted, "but you will respect the rules within the walls of my facility!"

"The Order of the Phoenix hasn't been active since the downfall of-"

"Shut up, Weasley!"

Now that was uncalled for, Hermione thought. Why wouldn't the Minister allow them to defend themselves? Was he still seeking revenge for their lack of involvement with the Ministry during the war?

After a moment, Scrimgeour seemed to calm down a bit. "I know exactly what needs to be done here." He turned to his assistant. "Quimby, escort these two to my office. I need to speak with an Auror."

After Scrimgeour stormed out of the room in a huff, the meek and proper man who had been standing next to him finally spoke. "Come along."

Ron shook his head in disgust. He knew as well as Hermione that this would not be pleasant.

"Just out of curiosity," Ron chirped, "is your name actually Quimby?"

The assistant gave Ron a stiff glare. "Quisley."

Ron shot a smirk in Hermione's direction. As much as she didn't want to, she reveled in the situation's resemblance to that of Percy and his former employer, Mr. Crouch.

"Well, that's a shame."

* * *

"You're not allowed inside the Ministry for the next six months?" Harry gaped at them after Ron had explained. The trio sat in Ron and Harry's flat, each one of them looking a little downtrodden. "Is that even legal?"

Ron shrugged. "Apparently so, because the Head Auror told us he'd bust us himself if we came within fifty feet of the Ministry."

Harry leaned toward Hermione. "What about your appeal?"

"Well, they have to make an exception for me on that one day." Hermione told him. "The Wizengamot refused to sign the paperwork otherwise."

"I guess that means they don't like to reschedule court dates."

"But it also means that if Hermione's first appeal doesn't pass, she can't get a second appeal in time."

"Thank you for reminding me, Ronald!"

Hermione shoved against the table and shot up from her chair. How could this have happened? And why did that stupid git always have to bring things like that up?

She had the desire to simply apparate right out of there, but she didn't. Instead, she made her way toward the lavatory, the only place she could calm down without being disturbed.

"For goodness sake, 'Mione! I didn't mean any harm!" Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. It was so typical of Ron not to allow her to calm down.

"Well you're acting like a prat!"

Harry let out a strange cough. "Well, I have a prior engagement. I'll just being leaving now." He took his wand from the table and tucked it into his robes, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Prior engagement, my arse." Ron laughed despite his frustrations with Hermione. "If you can't stand us arguing by now, you never will, mate."

"No, really!" Harry insisted. "I'm going to get a bite to eat."

"With who?"

Harry cleared his throat quickly three or four times. "A co-worker. I don't believe you've met him. Bye, then!"

Harry disappeared right after he finished speaking, and Ron was left to face Hermione once again. The mood was a little less strained thanks to Harry's intermission, but the atmosphere still wasn't perfect. Hermione needed to be swayed.

"I didn't mean to be rude, but you didn't have to react like that either!" Ron said. He was not helping the situation at all. Hermione was just about to let all her emotions loose on him when he spoke again. "Just let me do something to make you feel better, alright? Let's go out to dinner."

Hermione shook her head. "You just want to find Harry and spy on him."

"No, I don't this time." Ron gave her a crooked smile. "We don't have to eat. We can do whatever you want. Honestly, I'm just hungry."

So, this was Ron's big move. He was actually making his date idea a reality. Hermione couldn't have been happier. Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would be amazing.

"Actually, dinner sounds lovely." Hermione was beaming like a fool as she spoke. "I'll even let you pick the restaurant."

"Great!" Ron slapped his hands together and began rubbing them rapidly in a state of deep thought. "There's this new place in Hogsmeade I think you'll like. It's a bit fancy though."

"I'll need to stop at my flat first," Hermione informed Ron. Little did he know that she had a plan of her own unfolding in her mind. "but I'd love to meet you there. How about I meet you at seven o'clock?"

Ron's stomach picked that precise moment to grumble. Ron clenched his belly in one hand and laughed. "I'm sure we can handle it. I'll meet you in Weasley Wizard Wheezes then!"

Hermione turned around and focused all her energy on apparating back to her flat. It was difficult to keep her mind in one place, but she managed it. When she opened her eyes again, she felt more confident than ever.

It was time to set her plan into action.

* * *

At ten minutes past seven o'clock, Hermione slid around the corner passed Madame Puddifoot's in a mad rush. This was not her plan!

She had planned to spend a descent amount of time getting ready, then apparate directly to Weasley Wizard Wheezes at seven o'clock. It was there that she would knock Ron off his feet and proceed to have a lovely dinner with him.

Unfortunately, Hermione had spent too much time daydreaming rather than getting ready. By the time she realized what time it was Hermione only had fifteen minutes to get ready. She did what anybody sensible woman would do in the same situation: she panicked.

It was in that panic that she realized her new robes were just a bit too long and no matter how much Sleekeazy's Hair Potion she used, her hair just wouldn't fall the right way.

The stress only seemed to pile on as the minutes ticked by, and by the time Hermione was ready she was already five minutes late. Her distress only intensified when she apparated and didn't end up at Weasley Wizard Wheezes. She was at the Hogshead!

Hermione knew she was too distraught to try apparating again. It was likely that she'd have splinched herself if she tried. So, Hermione simply took off running through Hogsmeade Village with her newest robe on in the middle of the night.

Maybe it would have been best if she didn't show up it all, she thought. There had to be some excuse better than this fiasco.

Hermione slowed herself down to a power walk as she came up on Weasley Wizard Wheezes. She tried desperately to control her breathing, but it was not an easy task. Her chest was still heaving when she entered the building.

Ron stood in a daze, leaning against the counter at the front of the store. His look of worry and sadness was obvious even from a distance. However, when he saw Hermione that all changed.

"Hermione!" He called out. "Are you okay? What took you?"

Hermione did the only thing she could do. She stayed away from specific details. "I'm so sorry! I got caught up in something and then I had some transportation issues."

Luckily, Ron didn't question it. "Alright, it's not a big problem anyway." He shrugged and brushed a piece of lint off his shoulder. "Let's get to the restaurant, then."

The walk to the restaurant was a bit awkward. Hermione spent the journey mentally kicking herself until Ron spoke up. "I really thought you weren't going to show up."

"Why wouldn't I show up?" Hermione shot back, sounding a little more flustered then she had meant to sound.

Ron shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe you thought it was going too fast-"

"A textbook excuse!" Hermione injected.

Ron ignored her addition and finished his thoughts. "And maybe this wasn't really what you wanted."

Hermione's heart stopped dead. Was Ron unsure of Hermione's feelings or his own? Was it too much? Was Ron taking back everything that they had just so recently built up?

"I like you very much!" Hermione blurted out. It was deliriously desperate, and her face reddened immediately after. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Ron seemed to sputter for a moment, trying to find a decent reply to Hermione's sentiment. Nothing must have sounded right in his head, because all Ron did manage to do was make a strange array of squeaking noises.

Just in time, Hermione noticed a glowing sign above their heads that read "Mysteria."

"So this is the place?" Hermione choked out as Ron began opening the door. "I've heard all about this restaurant."

Ron nodded with a smug smirk on his face. He was trying to act as casual as possible. "I suppose it must be really good, if you've heard about it."

Hermione always kept up with the development of Hogsmeade, as it was the central hub of Hermione's life as a witch. Not only did she come here to shop, eat, and visit friends, her publisher was located in Hogsmeade. She spent most of her time there.

She knew that Mysteria was supposed to be amazing. Chances are that Ron knew it too. She couldn't help but wonder how long Ron had been planning this adventure.

After that, their dinner seemed to be going smoothly, Hermione had ordered the bouillabaisse, a popular French dish that seemed to make Ron very uncomfortable. He let out an awkward grunt and covered his mouth with his hand.

Hermione's eyebrows perked up. "What's the matter? It is too expensive?"

"No, not at all." Ron replied in a strangled voice. "It just brings back some memories of Hogwarts, that's all."

"You mean that French tart?"

Ron leaned toward her with a wild grin on his face. "I dunno. Do you mean Fleur, the one that married my brother?"

Hermione felt a bit embarrassed. She had not meant to call Fleur a tart, it just came out. Now that the Weasley family had made peace with the idea of Fleur being part of their family, Hermione felt that she had just made an awful impression on Ron.

"Don't why, I can tolerate her powers now and I can tolerate her personality, but still doesn't meant she's not a tart. She is, really. Merlin save me if they ever have children." Hermione was shocked. Not only was Ron not offended, he was agreeing!

"Why would it bother you if Bill and Fleur had children?" Hermione inquired.

"That child will be one-eighth veela. You know what that means! It will think it is the important and beautiful person in the family. The thing would be a bloody menace!" Ron ranted. "Normal children are hard enough it deal with as it is."

"Normal wizarding children." Hermione amended Ron's thoughts.

Ron sighed. "You know what I mean. None of the children in my family are going to be muggles." Ron lifted his glass and took a big swig.

"They could be part muggle, though."

Ron must have mistaken this sentence to be a proposition from Hermione, because he began to choke on his drink before whipped his head up toward Hermione. Liquid still dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Hermione shouted, earning stern glances from many others dining in the vicinity. Oh, this was horrible!

Ron chose not to continue the conversation, probably because he was too busy twiddling his thumbs. It was at that moment that Hermione came to an epiphany. She was awkward! She always had been awkward! Maybe this is why Ron had never pursued her before.

Hermione did not have much more time to dwell on the subject, as their waitress was back again, this time with their meals. She put on a very determined look before levitating Ron's meal into the empty area in front of him. After that, she levitated Hermione bouillabaisse toward her.

"Excuse me." Ron said in a perfectly cool and calm voice.

Apparently, it was still enough to startle the waitress.

Hermione's bouillabaisse came tumbling down all over her lap, causing her and the waitress to let out a horrified shriek at almost the exact same time. Every eye in the restaurant was now on them.

Hermione stood up as soon as possible, but it wasn't soon enough. She could already feel pain searing through her legs as the steaming dish burned her through her robes. She could just barely hear the waitress apologizing in hysterics.

The pain substantially subsided suddenly. Hermione looked down to see that the burning mess on her lap was gone. She looked up again to she Ron standing up with his wand pointed at her lap. She was immediately grateful.

"I just wanted salt." Ron managed to squeak out in the waitress' direction.

Excusing herself as calmly as possible, Hermione began walking toward the restroom. She tried not to look around, but it was difficult not to notice the staring faces at every angle. She had been publicly humiliated on one of the very few occasions that actually meant something to her.

Thankfully, nobody else was in the restroom. As she dissolved into tears, Hermione reckoned it would have been even more embarrassing if several innocent bystanders had witnessed her breakdown.

Her robes were ruined. Her plan was ruined. Her night was ruined.

Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, the door cracked open and she could see a mass of red hair entering the room.

"Ron! This is a woman's lavatory! You can't just come in here."

Ron gave her a sympathetic smile as he pushed himself up against the bathroom door. "After being in a girl's lavatory in Hogwarts that was haunted by the most dreadful ghost I've ever met, I fear no restroom."

"The manager is going to hex you into the next century!" Hermione warned him in a delirious voice. As good as it was to have Ron with her, Hermione knew the repercussions would be much worse than her scolding.

"I don't give a damn, you know that." Ron rolled his eyes. "Are you alright? Did your legs burn?"

Hermione nodded slowly. "A bit. I'm alright though."

Ron lurched toward as somebody attempted to enter through the bathroom door.

"We're closed!" He shouted, eliciting a giggle from Hermione. The woman on the other side of the door began to shout, but Hermione couldn't make out anything she was saying.

"I figured it must have hurt." Ron continued as if nothing had happened. "I could see the tears in your eyes and I figured it must have hurt quite a bit. Do you want to leave?"

Hermione wanted to tell Ron that she was crying more because she felt like a fool and less because she was in pain, but she couldn't. It would only make the situation hundreds of times worse.

After a moment, she decided leaving would not be the best option and thus shook her head in reply to Ron's questions.

"I'm fine. I think it would be best if we just kept on eating."

Ron gladly peeled himself away from the door and waited for Hermione to meet him. She had almost walked completely across the room when something caught her eye.

A thin crack in the corner of the last stall to the right was glowing brightly. Hermione went to scream, but Ron capped his hand over her mouth and squeezed her body tight to his. They watched in silence as the gap expanded and a dark shadowy figure left through it. When the glow had dissolved into a white wall once again, Hermione finally let out a sharp breath.

"There was nobody in here!" Hermione insisted. "I checked!"

Ron shook his head. "Well, he was." Ron began to inch toward the other bathroom stalls. "Merlin knows if somebody else was in here before him."

The first stall door swung open. Nothing was there. The second was just as empty, but still Ron seemed to grow nervous.

Ron tried to open the third stall, but it was locked. He gave Hermione a disconcerting look. "Alohamora!"

The door creaked open on its own accord. Inside, a woman sat unconscious with legs up on the toilet, leaning against the back wall. Hermione ran toward the stall for closer inspection.

How long had the woman been there? Was she put there after being hurt somewhere else in the bathroom? Did she faint after something had given her a fright? Hermione couldn't tell.

"How did he know we were here?" Hermione squeaked, far beyond the point of panic. This did not look good at all. "We'd only discussed it at your flat. We were alone."

"Apparently we weren't. He's been watching you." Ron began cracking his fingers, a horrible habit that occurred whenever he was truly angry. He took Hermione's hand and began pulling her toward the door a little more forcefully than he had meant to.

They stormed out of the bathroom together only to be met by a furious maitre de with a thin, curly mustache. "Why, I never.. I can't believe such crudeness is occurring in.."

"Oh, blow it up your arse!" Ron pushed past the man without so much as a glance backwards.

"Leave the premise this instant!"

"That's what we're doing!"

Once out of the restaurant, Hermione began to feel sick. The night had cooled down significantly and the streets of Hogsmeade were dark and worn. Ron only walked a few more paces before stopping dead.

"Are you well enough to apparate?" He asked Hermione, putting a concerned hand on her shoulder. "Come back to my flat with me. Just for tonight."

The suggestion comforted Hermione greatly. She meekly agreed to go with Ron, then scrunched her eyes shut and used all the energy she could muster to apparate back to Ron and Harry's flat.

She had hoped to apparate into the living room, the place where she usually apparated into Ron and Harry's flat, but she ended up on the stairwell. At least she was still in the right building.

From the parlor, she could hear a loud popping noise as Ron apparated home.

"Hermione?" He questioned in a surprisingly low voice. "What are you doing on- Christ! What the bloody hell are you doing?"

Unsure as to what Ron had discovered, Hermione ran down the stairs and through the kitchen to get to him. The man could have gotten to the house before her. He very well could have hurt Ron by the time she got there.

When she turned to corner with her wand in hand, the sight she found was not at all the picture she had expected to find.

Ron stood horrified behind the couch, staring at a giant mass on the couch.

Harry and Ginny lay tangled up in each other on the sofa, their hair disheveled and their skin glistening with sweat. Thankfully, they still had most of their clothes on.

The moment was awkward. The fact that Hermione had her wand out and looked like she was about to hex them all didn't help.

Once she put it down, Ron seemed the regain the ability to speak. "So this is your co-worker? Your male co-worker?"

Ginny sat up uncomfortably. "You're such a prat, Ron! I didn't this to be a publicized. Harry deserves a normal, healthy relationship."

"I'm your brother!" Ron bellowed. "Did you think I was going to run to the Daily Prophet?"

"We were going to tell you, mate." Harry finally spoke up. "We just wanted to make sure everything was right between us first."

"Well, apparently everything is alright!"

Ginny stood up in a fury that she reserved especially for her siblings. "What gives you the right to barge in here and give me hell, Ronald?"

"I LIVE HERE!"

Ginny began to pout. She certainly could not refute that. "Fine!" She began awkwardly. "It's still none of your business!"

This was ridiculous, and Hermione noted it from the start. She knew Ron was fine with Harry and Ginny having a relationship because he was happy with their last relationship. Ron was totally ignoring the fact that he and Hermione just had a very close encounter with one very sinister man who may very well want Hermione dead.

"The man from the portal followed us to a restaurant." Hermione called out, making all else go silent. "I think he was going to abduct me in the bathroom."

Ron let out a nervous cough. "Yeah. That's why we came back here."

"And you couldn't tell us this earlier?" Ginny glared at Ron as if he were the villain.

"I'm sorry!" Ron began waving his arms around as he spoke. "I was distracted by my best mate groping my sister!"

While Ron and Ginny continued their game, Harry found the common sense to speak up. "How did he know where you were?"

"We only discussed our plans in this flat."

That was all that Harry needed to hear. He leapt up from the couch, making Ginny fumble around to stay in place. He pointed his wand all around the room. After deciding it was all clear, he moved out into the kitchen.

"He's going to ransack the whole flat now." Ron groaned.

"He's not ransacking anything!" Ginny spat back. "He's making sure we're safe! You're so ungrateful!" They could hear Harry's footsteps moving up the stairs now, and Ginny jumped up to join him.

Ron slammed his fist into the couch. "Why am I always the prick?"

Hermione elected not to answer that question. Her head had been spinning for the better half of the night and it was likely that she would be attacked in her sleep. She was so unsure of herself and at the time, her mates weren't helping very much.

"I just want to go to bed."

Hermione sat down on the couch where she assumed she would be sleeping and pulled her knees up against her chest. Ron seemed to get the point.

From up the stairs, Ginny yelled out "All clear!"

"Come on, then." Ron mumbled with a hint of guilt in his voice. "Let's get you to bed."

Hermione silently followed Ron up the stairs, unsure of what he was doing. As far as she knew, they didn't have a guestroom.

To her surprise, Ron entered his own room. "You can sleep on the bed. I'll take the floor."

"Why am I sleeping in here?" Hermione inquired. "I can sleep on the sofa and you can have your bed to yourself."

"Bullshit. I'm not leaving you alone." Ron stated as if he were her bodyguard. "We have no idea where that creep keeps coming from."

Hermione felt a sudden rush of joy. Ron mustn't have given up on her after all. Then a feeling of sadness came in. He was just trying to keep her safe. Any good friend would keep the other safe.

There was only one way to tell, Hermione thought. It took her a while to speak, as her heart had jumped up into her throat and seemed to be blocking the ability of air to pass through. With a deep cough, she mustered up all her strength and courage.

"You can sleep on the bed with me, if you want." She stared up into Ron's eyes and smiled sweetly.

Goodness, she hoped he didn't think she was trying to seduce him. Then again, after all these years, maybe a proper seducing was in order.

Ron's eyes narrowed. "Sure."

As Ron climbed into bed with her and wrapped his arms around her lithe body, Hermione felt safer than she had it a very long time. Ron was happy. Hermione was beautiful. The night was splendid.

* * *

Here's the part where I beg for reviews! PLEASE GIVE ME SOME REVIEWS! PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE!

They really give me some inspiration and keep me writing, because you reviewers are amazing!

What did you think of Ron and Hermione's night? Was it bad because of the chain of events or good because of their emotions? What about Harry and Ginny? Give me some input!


	10. One Day of Infinity

A/N: I'm really afraid! EEP! You all want to kill me right now. I realize this. I don't have as much free time any more, so my chapter take one to two weeks to published. However, my chapters are getting much longer. This chapter is nice and long. I had a really good time writing it, so I really hope you'll all enjoy it! Also, there's a hefty passage of time here, so you'll have to keep that in mind. On with the story!

JKWilliams- I'm glad you agree with my perspective of Hermione. She's really got the capable, independant woman image in the books, but I can't help but wonder if that's all just a mask to hide behind. In my mind, it is. You will see her struggle with her image in this chapter especially.

Zarroc- Thanks so much! Your reviews are always motivational!

Dagworth- Thank you so much for correcting me! I don't speak German. I get all my translations on-line. Apparently the site I use isn't very reliable. I'm going to fix that error right away! Also, I'm reallyhappy that you like the story minus my horrendous attempts at German!

Cappygal116- All is well that ends well, indeed. That's a good motto. Hopefully, this chapter will also end well. We'll see!

Violet Snicket- Sorry, I don't show the next morning. I wanted to go a little further in time so that theplot could progress a little quicker. However, now you can could up with your own ideas as to what happened that morning and all the mornings that followed until the story picks up again!

Quidditch7- You flatter me way too much! I read your comments and POOF! My ego inflates! Yeah, I agree that fisrt dates are never perfect, especially not when you're Ron and Hermione! I thought you'd enjoy the fact that Harry and Ginny had a secret relationship that had been going on for a while! As for the closing, I think that's the best sign in a relationship, when you can just be with someone and feel safe.

The End of a New Life by mykonstantine.

Chapter 10: One Day of Infinity

The sun glared through the windows, lighting up the darkest crevices of her still-closed eyelids. Her mind tried its best to force the shine away and fall back asleep, but her body disagreed. She woke slowly. The ringing and murmuring in her ears soon distinguished itself as three separate voices.

"We're going to scare the life out of her like this!" The first voice whispered harshly.

Several feet hit the floor almost entirely in sync, edging toward Hermione's bed.

The second person clicked their tongue. "It's not like we've never woken her up before!"

"Yes, but that was a bit different." A woman's voice argued. "There was usually some sort of emergency. We're not in the middle of a war anymore."

"Oh, she'll live through this!"

Hermione thought about holding her breath and pretending to be dead, but thought the better of it. She let her eyelashes gently flutter upon and pretended to be surprised by the fact that Ron, Harry, and Ginny were standing over her.

"Why the hell are you here?" Hermione asked in a breathless voice.

Ron let out an exasperated snorting noise. "Nice to see you too."

Hermione wanted to remain giving them a line of sharp questioning, but Ginny answered all her questions for her.

"C'mon!" The ginger woman sighed. "We're getting you some fresh air! No research today!"

"But my appeal-"

"Isn't happening for another month and a half!"

Hermione began to panic on the inside. She knew that her friends meant well, but she just didn't have the time. This trial was too important to her.

"I need to prepare!"

"You haven't left your house in ages, Hermione!" Ron whined. "You haven't even stopped 'preparing' to have dinner with us!"

Hermione slowly felt the guilt set in. She tried to tell herself that they were over-exaggerating, but they weren't. Ever since Ron and Hermione's fateful first date, Hermione realized even more how terrible this marriage law who be. Thus, she flung herself into research for her case. She only left to do the things that were necessary, such as buying food and supplies and bathing.

Hermione hadn't had anything that would constitute as a date with Ron since Mysteria, but they still saw each other often. Ron usually brought her dinner and helping her research a bit, and some nights after a long day of staring at books, Hermione would apparate to Ron's flat to sleep with him in his bed.

However, Hermione knew that besides those nightly escapades, she had become a hermit.

"Honestly," Harry said to her, "how much more material do you need to look up?"

Hermione's mind sparked and her eyes lit up. "Oh, there are a million things I could be looking through, like the Separation laws of 1846 and-"

"Stop!" Hermione's reaction was certainly not what Harry had expected. "Stop now or I'm going to be ill!"

At that moment, an unknown object flew at Hermione from her right and wrapped around her head. Hermione untangled it in a bit of a panicked fury, threw it in her lap and realized that she was staring down at her own red cloak.

She had been so busy avoiding eye contact with the others that she did not even notice that Ginny had gone over to her dresser and picked out an outfit for her.

"This one day is not going to ruin your whole investigation!" Ginny proclaimed. She seemed to sober up in the following seconds. She sat down on the bed next to Hermione. "Please come out with us? It's not healthy to be cooped up in your flat all day, everyday. We're all so worried about you."

Hermione looked at Harry, Ron, and Ginny in turn. The guilt hit her harder than ever.

"Just for today." Hermione sighed. "Then it's back to work."

Harry and Ron gave each other a high five from the bedpost.

"What are we doing today, then?" Hermione questioned as she clambered out of bed feeling drowsy and a bit foolish.

"First, we're going to get some breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron," Ginny spoke in a quick, excited voice that made her sound as if she'd swallowed a squirrel, "then we're going to shopping in Diagon Alley."

"Shopping?" Ron blurted out in a flabbergasted tone. "You never told me that shopping was on the agenda!"

Ginny turned to her brother with her hands on her hips. "Nobody said that you were going shopping!" She gritted her teeth at him. "I'm sure you have other things to do!"

Ron immediately turned pink. "Yeah, I suppose I can find something to fill the spare time with, but shopping… honestly."

"It's a witch's best form of stress relief!"

Harry looked over at Ron somewhat apathetically. "As long as they're not forcing us to shop with them, I reckon it's best we let them."

Ron seemed torn between words. He fidgeted for a moment then made a few grumbling noises before finally agreeing to the plan.

* * *

The Leaky Cauldron was a bit quieter than one would have expected it to be on a Saturday morning. Besides their party of four, only five other people sat eating in the restaurant. 

Hermione hadn't eaten such a healthy meal in what felt like ages; thus she ate her sausage with extreme fervor. Her friends had been oddly silent, but Hermione figured that it was only because they were enjoying their food.

Ron was the first to make conversation. "I spoke to Tonks yesterday."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," He gulped down a large chunk of ham. "She said if we had been banned from the Ministry by anyone but Scrimgeour, the Aurors could have denied the paperwork. There's no way they can overturn the Minister's rulings, though."

Ginny shook her head. "I don't know why she worries so much about that. She's about to give birth any day now, she should be worried about herself."

Hermione wanted to slap herself in the face. She had completely forgotten that Tonks had been very pregnant the last time she'd seen her. Hermione even bought a present for this child that would become part of her wizarding family in the days to come.

"When is she due again?" Hermione asked, trying to mask her curiosity as best as possible. That way, she didn't look like a fool.

Harry coughed awkwardly. "Three days ago."

Hermione sank back in her chair. Now she certainly looked like a fool. At that rate, she figured that one more question wouldn't hurt.

"Is the baby a boy or a girl?"

Ron raised his eyebrow in Hermione's direction. "Nobody told you? Lupin sent a letter to Harry and me all about it. He seemed awfully excited."

"Well," Hermione began in almost a whisper, "I've gotten a bit of post over the last few weeks but I just haven't had the time to… I'm sure Remus must have sent me something."

Hermione's throat began to close up. Had Lupin sent her anything? Hermione didn't know. She hadn't even spent enough time to look and see from where her post was coming. She had fallen a step behind her friends. She couldn't even keep up with the facts of everyday social life. Christ, even Ron knew more than her!

"I think we're all done here!" Ginny piped up before Hermione managed to get drastically upset. "I'll pay Tom for his troubles then I'll go off into Diagon Alley with Hermione."

Ginny worked her way around quickly, and in less than a minute Hermione had said her goodbyes to Harry and Ron as she watched a plain brick wall turn into the elegant archway of Diagon Alley.

"Can I see you later tonight?" Ron asked in a husky voice as he gave Hermione a long hug goodbye. "Just apparate to my flat when you're done with Ginny."

"Of course."

Hermione walked through the archway with Ginny, but something caught her eye and curiosity forced her to whip around. Through the piling bricks, Hermione could see a bright silvery light approach Harry and Ron. She couldn't see the clouded shape it took, but she exactly what it was.

"A patronus!" Hermione spotted as the last brick fell into place. She turned to Ginny. "Do you still communicate with the Order of the Phoenix through them?"

"I haven't in ages, but I supposed that some Order members still use the patronuses to communicate with Harry."

"Why do you say that?"

"He's _Harry Potter_." Ginny sounded exasperated as she spoke. "Goodness knows they can't communicate with him like they would a normal witch or wizard. That would be preposterous!"

Catching the sarcasm in Ginny's voice, Hermione let out a giggle. It was good to be out talking with a friend again. The thought of the patronus was whisked out of her mind as she and Ginny began a frenzied string of conversation.

They had walked up and down Diagon Alley two and a half times before Hermione realized exactly what had been going on. The conversation topics of Harry, Ron, the Order, the Weasley family, Harry, Ron, Crookshanks, Hermione's reluctance to purchase an owl, work, Ron and Harry had kept her comfortably distracted from all of her troubles and time.

Hermione looked over at Ginny, looking more amused than she should have. "So, did you actually plan to buy anything on this shopping trip?"

"I dunno." Ginny shrugged, revealing to Hermione that shopping was not her main plan. "I just wanted to chat a bit. Though I suppose I should buy some broom polish and a new dress robe, if I can afford it."

"A dress robe? Do you have a big date with Harry coming up?"

"I wish." Ginny snorted, sticking her nose up into the air to emphasize it all. "Harry wouldn't know romantic if somebody shoved it up his arse." She took a deep breath. "No, that's not it. Do you remember my roommate in Gryffindor, Melinda Hopkins?"

Hermione strained her mind. It was difficult to keep track of all the Gryffindors she had met over the years. Slowly, the image of a girl with short stringy brown hair, green eyes, and enormous eyes appeared in her mind.

"Yes."

"She's marrying Colin Creevey next month."

Hermione should have seen that one coming, but she didn't. The statement made her stomach lurch a bit. However, she tried her best to play it as calm and as casual as she could manage.

First, she let out a deep sigh to get out some tension. "It seems like everybody is getting married these days."

There. That was a perfect, non-judgmental statement.

Ginny rolled her eyes as she yanked open the doors to Madame Malkin's shop. "Let's face it, Hermione. That's because everyone is getting married these days."

With that, Hermione's casual attitude burnt out. She had to ask the one question she had been holding back.

"Isn't Colin a muggle born?"

Ginny looked shocked and a bit hurt, but then she hung her head. "Yeah."

"They all give in so easily!" Hermione chided those of muggle heritage even though none of them could hear her. "Why would you give your life up like that?"

Ginny, who had been looking through a rack of robes when Hermione was speaking, whirled around in what seemed to be outrage.

"Maybe they're not giving up on their lives!" The fiery red-head shot back in a fury. "Maybe they're getting the lives they've dreamed of for ages! For your information, Melinda and Colin are very much in love, and I'm damn happy for them."

Hermione was shaken to the core. Ginny was right! Was it wrong to fight so hard against this? Had Hermione become some sort of feminist from hell?

Whether or not Hermione had become a horrid activist, she certainly felt like one. Now she had to tell Ginny her truth.

"Well, I'm in love too! What does it mean? NOTHING!" Hermione cried out, completely disregarding the fact that she was in a small shop. "I have three weeks until I'm done for! My time will be up and the Ministry will send me to Azkaban until my appeal at the very least."

"Hermione-"

"I can't make him love me, Ginny." She gasped, holding back a painful sob. "And I can't make myself love somebody else. Especially not in three weeks."

Just before Hermione had a chance to break down, something extraordinary happened in the cramped robe shop.

Ron Weasley came sprinting in, failing his arms and huffing heavily.

"Bloody hell, you two are hard to track down." Ron bent his knees a bit, leaned over and placed his hands on top of his knees in an attempt to regain his breath. "I've been searching every corner of this place."

In Hermione's fragile state, she feared the worst. "Ron? What happened? Are you alright?"

Ron nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah, but we've got to get to St. Mungo's right away."

Hermione didn't know what to think. She glanced over at Ginny and she could see the same horror and anticipation that Hermione was feeling.

"Tonks just had a baby!"

* * *

Less than an hour later, Remus Lupin came strutted through the doors of St. Mungo's maternity ward with his head held high. 

These were various shouts of congratulations from Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny, who were all waiting in a small room just outside the ward.

A thought struck Hermione. "So the patronus was Lupin's!"

"Of course." Harry answered. "How else would he have found us?"

"He's beautiful." Remus put his modesty aside. "They should let you see him now, if you'd like."

Hermione could feel a small sheet of water bathing her eyes. Lupin had been through so much in his life. As much as Hermione had gone through, Lupin had seen more. He had seen Voldemort's reign not once, but twice. Almost all the people he had held dear in his childhood were now dead. Now, he had a wife and a son. He was full of joy and he finally seemed to have reached an inner peace.

"I'd love to meet him." Hermione said with a grin, trying her best to hold back her bittersweet joy.

They all followed Lupin though the many twisting halls, and after a bit Hermione grew curious.

"Where's the nursery?" She asked, looking back and forth across the hall at every door.

Ron looked at Hermione as if she were covered in giant pimples. "What's a nursery?"

"You know," Hermione stuttered. "The room where all the babies are kept."

"The baby has his own room with Tonks, of course." Ginny explained to Hermione. "Children need their mums."

Hermione nodded, pretending to have known that all along. She was surprised that in all her years of study, there were still some details that Hermione had yet to discover. Ron, however, wasn't going to let the subject go that easily.

"Muggles keep all their newborn children all in the same room?" He gaped. "Mad, that is."

Hermione was just about to tell off Ron for being so inconsiderate of the reasons muggles kept children together, such as health purposes and security, but Lupin stopped in front of one door and put a finger to his lips.

"You don't have to be so quiet." Tonks softly called out into the hallway. "He's awake right now."

Thus, the five members of the group entered the room one by one to set their sights on the newest addition to their lives.

Next to the bed where Tonks rested was a white cradle with several magic monitoring instruments hovering over it. Standing by its side, Hermione could see the tiny baby's button nose, wisps of sandy brown hair, and grayish eyes.

Harry looked back from Lupin to Tonks. "Where are the gray eyes coming from?"

"All babies are with eyes like that." Hermione explained. "Real eye colour doesn't develop until a baby is weeks, sometimes months old."

"Since when did you a book on newborn attributes?" Ron laughed.

She turned toward him with a smile. Their eyes locked for a minute in what Hermione could only describe as an awkward tension. Since when was Ron so interested in the subject of children?

They both turned and stared back at the baby. "I'm not really knowledgeable on the subject, I've just heard it before, and that's all."

Out of all of them, Ginny had been staring most fondly at the baby. "What's his name?"

Lupin looked at Tonks and Tonks looked at Lupin as if they were exchanging conversation through glances. They seemed to decide that Lupin would be the one to speak.

"His name is James." Remus told them with a twitchy smile, looking straight at Harry. "James Sirius."

Harry returned Lupin's deep stare in a moment of both affection and understanding. Hermione's heart melted.

"I know it's a bit cheesy." Tonks sighed from her bed, quickly adding "And overly sentimental."

"No!" Harry finally managed to speak up. Everyone turned to look at him now, and Hermione could just barely notice a sad smile on his face. "It's a lovely name. It suits him well." Ginny made her way to Harry and put her arm around his waist.

An eerie silence followed. Nobody could think of anything to say that could top the moment that had just passed them by.

Hermione was already cooing over the baby once again while Ron watched from the other side of the cradle when Lupin finally spoke again.

"His first name was almost Sirius, but I couldn't let Padfoot have that satisfaction even in the afterlife." Everyone let out a weak laugh.

By then little James had fallen asleep and he looked as if he would stay that way for a long time.

"Maybe it's best if we leave you all to rest now." Hermione concluded aloud.

Ginny seemed to agree wholeheartedly. "Yeah, you've all had an awfully long night."

They all left and made their way out into the waiting room, trying to be as invisible as possible. Every once in a while, Hermione would look into a room to see a mother cradling her baby or a little arm stretching up toward the glowing monitors above their cradle.

She wondered if she would ever be so lucky as to experience a situation like Tonks had experienced. Could the unstoppable Hermione Granger domesticate herself into a loving wife and mother? Certainly, her more harsh critics would think she'd gone soft. Thinking about it made her mind ache. Such a large decision was not one she could have made at that moment.

"Where are we off to now?" Hermione asked, expecting that Ginny still had an agenda hidden somewhere up her sleeve.

Ron looked uncomfortably toward Harry and Ginny. Ginny made a motion that Hermione didn't quite catch and Ron nodded ever so slightly.

"Well, I have lots to do tonight." Ginny informed Hermione. "Sorry, love."

Typical, Hermione thought. Ginny had made Hermione clear out her entire schedule even thought Ginny had already had plans for the evening.

Harry rubbed his hand into the hair residing on the back of his neck. "I can't go anywhere either. I've got to help Ginny."

"With what, exactly, does Ginny need help?"

"Oh, well… She's moving furniture." Harry stated after a moment of confusion.

Is that what they called it these days? Hermione propped her hands up on her hips. "Can't Ginny just levitate her furniture herself?"

"You know how it is!" Ginny let out an unsteady laugh. "Lots of furniture! It would take hours, maybe days!"

Hermione didn't know what had come over her friends, but before Hermione could even say goodbye to Harry and Ginny, they had apparated out of sight.

Now she stood face to face with a modest looking Ron, a meek smirk painted on his lips. "What do you say we go back to my flat, then?"

* * *

It was late afternoon and Ron's flat was dead quiet. Hermione found a creepy yet intriguing at the same time. She and Ron had never had the entire flat to themselves, especially not during the later hours of the day. 

She had almost forgotten that Ron was by her side until he spoke. "I had something for you, but it's all mucked up now." He grumbled. "I suppose I'll show you anyway."

Ron took Hermione hand gently and led her into the kitchen. In the middle of the room stood a small wooden table that Hermione knew to belong to Ron and Harry, but it was disguised in a crimson cloth. Hermione didn't even know they owned a tablecloth! On the table, there were only two long white candles.

Hermione wasn't positive what Ron meant to do with such a romantic setting, but she had a few ideas.

"I set it up this morning before we left." Ron explained, looking more than disappointed. "I was going to cook dinner while you were shopping with Ginny, but then that bloody baby got in the way."

"Oh yes!" Hermione laughed at Ron's cynicism. "Let's blame a newborn child!"

Ron pulled out a chair and sat down in a huff. "I'm not blaming him. He just should have picked a different date of birth, that's all!" He retorted. "I think he's lovely. He looks just like Remus."

Ron thought for a second before adding, "Though he could look like Tonks."

"What does Tonks normally look like? You know, without the morphing?" Hermione pondered.

"I doubt Tonks even knows herself."

Hermione nodded. "James was darling, though. I can't wait to see him grow up."

"You won't even think about James growing up!" Ron sat back his chair, doing his best to convince Hermione. "You'll have your own children to think about!"

A chill ran down Hermione's spine. They had never discussed this subject in the past. Ron seemed confident, almost arrogant in this statement. Why was he so sure of himself? What was he implying? Who said that Hermione even wanted children?

"No, I don't think I'll have any of my own." Stated Hermione, acting half-defiant and half-depressed. It was a blatant lie because Hermione had never completely ruled out the idea of having children, but she hadn't decided on it either.

"What?" Are you going to adopt?" Ron replied as casually as ever.

How daft could he possibly be?

For some reason, the fact that Ron did not catch on to her previous statement angered her greatly, and she felt the need to retaliate more harshly than ever before.

"NO, Ron! I'll be in AZKABAN!"

Ron stopped looking so suave at that moment. He took down a hard gulp and leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "Hermione, listen to me. That's not something you have to worry about anymore. You know that."

"I only have three weeks, Ron! Sorry to inform you!" Hermione couldn't believe that Ron was so calm about this! It only served to fuel her rage more.

"I know that!" Ron had begun shouting now. "Did you think I wouldn't notice?" He stared at the table for a minute, letting out a rough growl. "This is not how I wanted tonight to be!"

"How did you want it to be, then?"

To Hermione's surprise, Ron began digging in his pockets and quickly pulled out a red dragon hide box.

"I wanted it to be like this." Ron stood up then dropped down to one knee by Hermione's chair. He opened the tiny box to reveal a gold ring with two diamonds forming an infinity symbol. "You can nag me. You can fight with me. You can call me whatever you want, but you have to do one thing for me first." He told her in a weak voice. "Marry me."

Hermione stood up from her seat. "Are you mad?"

"Hermione," Ron stood up next to her, "this is right and you know it! I love you!"

"You are mad!"

Hermione tried to walk away, but Ron blocked her path. His bright blue eyes bore down on her as she tried to avoid looking up at him. Finally, Hermione did look up and found herself stuck in the most frightening position of her life.

"Tell me you don't love me and I promise I'll leave you be, Hermione."

Hermione wanted to speak. She wanted to tell him a million things all at once, but she couldn't manage to find the words.

"You do love me." Ron smirked, taking Hermione silence as the answer for which he had been searching. "Don't you?"

"Yes."

Their stare broke. Ron stopped blocking her path now, but Hermione wasn't going anywhere. "Then why won't you marry me?"

Hermione had trouble finding words again, so she shook her head until she found the right ones. "It's just too much, too soon."

"Is it?" Ron seemed desperate to convince Hermione otherwise. "Ever since Hogwarts, I can't imagine myself with anyone else but you. If you can imagine yourself with someone else, someone better, I'd understand. But for me, it's always been you."

Hermione could feel something strange building inside her. She was unsure whether or not it was happiness or sadness filling her soul. She knew the answer would come to her, but it was coming very slowly.

She found herself staring into Ron's eyes once again.

"So, what do you say?"

* * *

Oh boy! What will she say? GUESS!

You'll definitely be able to tell in the next chapter. The answer won't be based on words, but on actions. You'll see?

So what did you think? Was Ron's proposal horrible? What about the name of Lupin and Tonks' son? Too predictable? I found it a bit cheesy, myself, but I'm no good with names.

Be sure to give me some feedback!


	11. Dressed For Disaster

A/N: I'd like to apologize my British readers. I am very American, but I try to use British spellings and such. Sometimes it gets atrocious. I got a lot of different reactions to the last chapter, but I like seeing all the different opinions! This is a relaxed chapter, but it's setting you up for lots of action! You're all so wonderful. Thanks for reading!

Trixie7- I think it's hard from Hermione to come to terms with the idea of Ron being in love with her. She's very practical and falling in love so quickly is not a very practical idea. It scares her. You'll see how it all turns out soon!

Coolgirlc- Did I not answer your review last time? I'm so sorry! I generally just go through my emails and I must have skipped one! The last time we saw Tonks she was very pregnant, so she hadn't had the baby yet. Now she has and the story continues!

Zarroc- Some people think she should say yes, others don't. Will have to see, now won't we? I hope you enjoy reading this!

Keen13- Thanks! Sometimes I feel like they're out of character, but I really try to keep them faithful to the books. There will be lots of mystery to unravel before the story ends, so keep reading!

Quidditch7- Scatter brain reviews are great! They make me smile! It was hard to decide what Hermione would do, so I put myself in the situation and chose from there. Hopefully it's to everyone's liking. This chapter will keep you relaxed, but be prepared to really dive into the next chapter!

Abercrombie 18- I don't know. Would you run away from everyone you know and love, especially when you've already convinced another friend not to run away from it? Hermione has some really tough choices to make (and they were really tough for me to write!) You'll see how it all plays out. Not everything is as it seems!

Gag Hafrunt- I completely agree with you, the idea is ludricious, but I'm writing this for an upcoming marriage law challenge. There will be twists at the end about the laws and the people involved. To me, the story is not as much about the law as it is the adventure. I have two older stories that don't involve the marriage law, but the grammar isn't great. If you want to try one of those, I'd suggest "Cursed Wedlock."

Cappygal116- All chapters must come to an end! I know it was a cliffy. Honestly, this chapter has one too. I've become very fond of them, I guess! I'm glad the baby's name didn't appall you. I hope you like the chapter!

Since her confrontation with Ron, Hermione had been having the busiest week of her life.

As much as she tried to concentrate, she just couldn't manage to get her work done for the appeal. Every time she sat down with a book full of government policy and began to skim through the papers, her mind floated off into another world which encompassed her personal life.

Not to mention that she was interrupted by frequent visits from friends and family. Just that day, Mrs. Weasley had stopped by to have a chat and see whether or not Hermione was feeling well. Just after Mrs. Weasley had left, Ginny came over with an offering of mint tea that Hermione could not pass up. After all, tea was an excellent soothing device.

Yesterday, she'd had her parents come to her flat for dinner. It was the most awkward experience Hermione had had with her own flesh and blood. She visited her parents' home quiet often and found it easy not to use magic, but in her own flat magic seemed natural.

The few times she did use magic, her parents gawked at her with a combination of amazement and fright. Hermione knew they could never get used to it all.

Things got even worse when she tried to explain what had been happening to her over the last few months. Her parents had a very hard time grasping the ways in which the Ministry of Magic functioned. Once they had a minimal understanding, Hermione tried to explain the law, which her parents understood very quickly. Needless to say, she had to listen to a new bout of outrages from the pair.

It only got harder when they were done, because Hermione then had to explain what she planned to do and her prior motivations for doing it. She had to explain h her life would be very, very different from then on.

Just to make it worse, as she finished, Lavender Brown apparated into the room looking as if she were about to burst. This suddenly appearance elicited a shrill scream from Hermione's mother.

This had to be the longest week of her life. Getting married was not an easy task, especially not when accompanied by Ron Weasley.

Much to Ron's disliking, they had already written a list of possible members of the wedding party, selected the best candidates, and held a meeting with these people to discuss the dates, outfits, and other miscellaneous arrangements.

After everyone had gone, they compiled an entire list of who would be invited to the wedding. Hermione was shocked to find out that Ron had such a large extended family, most of whom she had never met.

The next few days of the week would be the worst of all.

That day was a day Hermione had officially nicknamed "D-Day," and the next day was Dean and Parvati's wedding.

As it was officially D-Day, Ron would be moving into Hermione's flat.

Ron had been afraid at first that Harry would be slightly wounded by this tactic, but the red-haired man shouldn't have been so smug.

Hermione heard a familiar popping noise from behind her. Before she could even register that someone had apparated into her house, that someone was making their presence very well known.

"GINNY!" A rough male voice exclaimed. Hermione smirked devilishly and turned around to face a livid Ron.

"Harry's new roommate is Ginny!" He exclaimed more clearly. He began pacing back and forth frantically. Without missing a beat, he continued. "How could they plan this out behind my backs? They're my best mate and my little sister!"

"Which is exactly way they did plan it out behind your back." Hermione noted. "Why do you care so much? You didn't seem to mind in sixth year."

"In sixth year, they weren't sleeping with each other!"

"Says who?"

Ron stopped pacing and looked Hermione dead in the eye. He seemed to be in the deepest of shock. "I really, really do hate you sometimes."

Hermione shrugged. "I try."

Ron ruffled his hair and paced for another few minutes while Hermione continued to clean and organize her kitchen.

"When do you think I should start moving my things in?" Ron asked once he had managed to calm down.

Hermione let out a deep sigh. "Now, I guess." Reluctantly, she pointed her wand and prepared to apparate to Ron's flat.

"Rubbish!" Ron said to stop her. "I'm not going to make you do all the work. I'm making Harry help me instead! I think he owes me that much right now."

"Does Harry know that he'll be responsible for helping you move some of your most valued possessions?"

"Oh, he will."

Hermione let out a little laugh. "What am I supposed to do then?"

"Uhh.." Ron's eyes swiveled around the room. "Ginny wanted to see you. I think she has some ideas for you."

"Well," Hermione sighed. "Has she become my personal distraction squad now?"

Ron didn't avoid the question at all.

"Yes. Yes, she is."

As if having been summoned to the flat, Ginny Weasley apparated into the kitchen at that moment. She looked around the room hastily until her eyes locked on Hermione.

"There you are!" Hermione wanted to shake her head, but she refrained. Ginny acted as if she did not expect to find Hermione in her own flat.

Ron obviously saw this as his exit sign, because right after Ginny spoke, he said "I think I'll catch up with Harry now" and apparated away.

Ginny stared at the area where her brother had just been standing, shook her head wearily and mumbled "Men!"

"I hear you're moving in with Harry?" Hermione decided to make conversation before Ginny had the chance. Everyone seemed to want to talk about the plans she was making for the wedding, and Hermione couldn't stand to talk about herself any longer.

A pink blush rose up in Ginny's cheeks. "We're going to wait about a week before we move my belongings in. You know, just to make sure that all of Ron's things and gone. I don't want him to come back and be angry that something of his was moved or misplaced."

"He'll be fine once he gets his panties out of a twist." Hermione assured Ginny. "I think it's great that you'll be living with Harry now. Congratulations!"

Ginny tried to hide her blush and her smiles as she simply shrugged, but her true happiness betrayed her. Hermione could tell Ginny was enthralled.

"How have you been?" Ginny asked. Hermione was unhappy that the subject had been changed back to her, but she tried to look content. "Have you been feeling well?"

"Just fine, thank you." Hermione replied curtly.

"Good!" Ginny shouted out. "Because today we're pulling out all the stops!"

Hermione's heart leapt. She was in complete fear as to what Ginny meant by that statement. What exactly would they be pulling the stops out on?

"How so?"

"We're going to find you the most fabulous dress robes in Britain!" Ginny laughed. "I won't settle for you looking like anything less than royalty!"

It was true that Hermione was sick of planning, but she couldn't help but feel a bit enthusiastic when a kindred spirit such as Ginny was there to support her. No wonder she had chosen Ginny as her maid of honour.

Still, a few things stood in her way. Most girls had spent their entire lives dreaming of their wedding day. Hermione had thought about it, of course, but she had never narrowed it all down to one specific image.

She had no other choice than to shrug her shoulders and pretend to have no interest. "I haven't really put any thought into the small details like that, Ginny."

"Small details?" Ginny gasped out in sheer horror. "Hermione, the flower arrangements are a small detail. The colour of the bonding pillows is a small detail. Your wedding dress robes are the only detail!"

"What's a bonding pillow?" Hermione inquired, even though she knew very well that bonding pillows were the cushions then bride and groom knelt down on throughout a traditional wizard wedding. She had seen it once before, but she still hoped to throw Ginny off topic.

Ginny didn't miss a beat. "Don't give me that! You know exactly what a bonding pillow is!" Hermione internally chided herself for not coming up with a cleverer question. Now Ginny was right back where she left off. "You don't have any idea what you want to wear during your wedding?"

"No," Hermione came up with another clever attempt, "but I've decided on the colour of our dress robes."

"I'll have to be fitted for it while we're in Hogsmeade shopping for your dress robes."

Damn it all, Hermione thought. It was so much simpler to lead Harry and Ron off topic. Ginny was persistent. She had no choice.

"When should we leave?" Hermione sighed, signaling to Ginny that she had given up her struggle.

Ginny did a small hop. "Now sounds about right!"

Rolling her eyes at Ginny's excitement and thus attempting to hide her own, Hermione made another exasperated noise. "I'll meet you outside of the twins' shop."

Hermione didn't wait for Ginny's approval. Meeting outside of Fred and George's shop was a given. The Weasleys and close family friends met there whenever they ventured into Hogsmeade.

The air was cool in Hogsmeade and the sudden temperature change sent a chill down her spine. People were walking to and fro, paying no mind to the fact that Hermione and Ginny had just appeared out of thin air.

A bell above their heads tinkled as a large red head of hair peeked out through the doorway.

"Well if it isn't my favorite sister!"

"Hello, George!" Ginny replied in a cheery voice.

Thank goodness Ginny had named the twin who stood in front of them. Hermione still had trouble telling them apart. She avoided identifying either of them by name until after someone else had already clarified it for her.

"I was talking about Hermione, actually." George replied smugly. Hermione couldn't help but let out a giggle, even as Ginny scoffed.

"I'm not your sister yet." Hermione reminded him. "Even after I marry Ron, I'll only be your sister-in-law."

Ginny seemed pleased with this answer because she was used to being the little sister. The twins had never thought of Fleur as a sister, as far as Hermione knew.

"Bullocks!" Fred came out of the shop, adding to the conversation. "You're family to us and you know it."

Ginny let out a pouting noise that Hermione gleefully ignored.

"What are you two doing around here anyway?"

"Hermione is getting married in two weeks and she hasn't bought her dress robes yet!" Ginny told the twins as if Hermione were a complete atrocity.

"You're buying them already?" George looked taken back.

"But you've still got two weeks!"

For the second time in a few minutes, Ginny snorted roughly. "Men."

"We better get going now." Hermione suggested as she looked at the aggravation plastered across Ginny's delicate features.

Fred gave her a smug smile. "Be sure to come back later, ladies! We'll share some of our sweets with you!"

"Do you really think we would still fall for that?"

"Why not? Ron does!"

Hermione and Ginny shook off their giggles and began to make their journey through Hogsmeade.

After a while, Hermione began to grow weary. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Don't worry!" Ginny reassured her. Her tone was so positive that it began to make Hermione nervous. "I know just the place!"

They had already moved through the main part of the village, past Madame Puddifoot's and The Hogshead. They were following a long path between trees, but in the distance Hermione could see a few very small buildings.

As the buildings edged closer, Hermione concluded that they were cabins. Even though they looked like private residences, Ginny walked right up to a cabin on the right side of the street and yanked the door open, ushering Hermione in.

Inside was the largest amount of dress robes she had ever seen in any shape or size. They ranged in length, design and color. It was a sight that she had never seen before and the secret part of her that enjoyed shopping leapt up in joy.

A stout woman of about fifty-years-old with sequined robes and bug eyes stood behind the counter sewing. At the sight of Hermione and Ginny, she leapt up from the chair and waddled over to them.

"You need help, dear?" She spoke with a broken accent that surrounded Russian to Hermione. However, she was not very good with foreign dialect and assumed that the woman could have been Eastern European.

Ginny spoke up before Hermione could stop staring at the unusual woman before her. "This woman here is looking for dress robes for her wedding." Ginny too, seemed to have a staring problem.

"You come to right place." The woman's voice was deep and jolly. "My robes are all original. I make them myself."

The woman grabbed Hermione by the hand, startling her half to death, and began leading her up a small flight of wooden stairs. Ginny scurried behind them just to keep up.

Hermione hadn't expected there to be more to the shop, but there certainly was more. The entire upstairs region of the shop was filled with bridal dress robes.

"Let me see." The chubby witch began circling around Hermione like a hawk. "Medium height, medium waist, small breasts," Hermione let out an awkward grumble. Were they really that small? "large thighs," Oh, that was even worse! "and average neck."

By this point, Ginny was twirling her hair awkwardly and staring off at an unknown something on the other side of the room.

"You need something long. Something curvy." The owner of the shop seemed to be filling herself up with inspiration. "Something magnificent!"

"Nothing too fancy, please." Hermione added in a sour attempt at modesty.

"I have perfect one!"

* * *

"It's amazing, Harry!" Ginny squealed the next day as she sat around the kitchen with her boyfriend and Hermione. "I've never seen Hermione look so lovely!"

Harry didn't seem too interested in the conversation, but he smiled politely and nodded. "I'll see that for myself in a few weeks, I'm sure."

"I wonder what Parvati's dress robes will look like." Ginny pondered, twirling the edge of her robes by her knees in between her fingers.

"We'll find out," Harry began, walking to the bottom of the staircase and calling out "As soon as Ron gets his arse out of the bathroom!"

"Bugger off!" Ron's voice carried into the kitchen from above. "My hair is very delicate right now!"

"Your brain is the only delicate piece of you, mate!"

"In his defense," Hermione giggled, "he's only been in there for five minutes. Ginny and I took up all his time in the bathroom."

"Well, you took up my time, too." Harry reminded Hermione. "Still, I was ready in three minutes!"

Before the conversation could continue, Ron came marching down the stairs.

"Let's go since you're in such a bloody rush." He grumbled.

Ginny lifted here wand and was about it leave when she suddenly stopped and turned to Harry. "Where exactly are we apparating to this time?"

"Regents Park."

Ginny nearly dropped her wand. "Regents Park?" She gasped. "How do they plan to have a magical wedding in that muggle-infested park?"

"The same way we can hold a Quidditch World Cup." Hermione told Ginny as if it were obvious. It was a shock to her that Ginny hadn't realized it herself. "Diversions, of course."

"Plus, there's a rugby festival on the other side of the park, so all the muggles will be there." Harry added with a cocky smirk.

Hermione laughed, but Ron and Ginny looked baffled.

"What on Earth is rugby?"

Harry shook his head rapidly. "It doesn't matter. Let's go."

When Hermione finally landed in Regents Park, she was shocked to find that Dean and Parvati hadn't changed anything in the area at all. The flowers had always been there, and there were no frilly decorations hanging about. All there was were seats, a tiny white isle, and a small white tent to serve as a chapel. Two other white tents stood on the outskirts. Hermione knew that was where Dean and Parvati were waiting.

There weren't many people there. Neither Dean nor Parvati had a very large family. The setting was much more intimate than Hermione had expected, but she loved it dearly.

They had barely being sitting for a minute when Seamus came over to them.

"Lovely day, isn't it?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "Should you be getting ready with Dean?"

"I am ready!" Seamus stood straight up and began strutting in his dress robes. Once he had gotten a significant amount of amusement from his audience, he came back over to them. "Plus, the bride and groom get ready on there own. It's tradition."

Hermione gulped. That was one part of tradition of which she was not aware.

Seamus pointed to his right. The group looked to see Lavender fully dressed and chatting with Dean's mother.

"It's our job to greet the guests and tell Dean and Parvati when it's time."

"When is it time?" Ron asked, showing that he was bored already.

Seamus looked down at his pocket watch. "Right about now."

He signaled to Lavender and pointed drastically toward his watch. She seemed to get the point because she nodded gleefully before sprinting off toward the tent on the right.

Seamus can out with Dean in a matter of seconds. They stood nervously at the altar, waiting for Seamus' wife and Dean's bride to march out of the other tent.

The minutes grew longer and longer and a thick silence fell over the crowd.

Finally, somebody came running out of the tent. It wasn't Parvati. It was Lavender. She held something in her hands, but her arms were flailing so quickly that Hermione couldn't make out what it was.

Could Parvati Patil possibly have walked out on Dean and left nothing but a note?

Lavender reached Dean in a huff. "I looked all over, Dean! I can't find her anywhere!"

Dean's eyes were looking down at his feet. Hermione could just barely see a single tear roll down his nose and fall to the ground. They all knew what this meant. They were all shocked.

"She didn't leave, Dean!" Lavender tried to convince him. "When I got to her tent, the mirror was smashed into pieces!"

Dean's head shot up. Seamus looked at his wife with the utmost surprise. The entire audience was extremely attentive.

Lavender little out a little sob and held up the object in her hand. It was clear to Hermione that Lavender held a bridal shoe, but something was odd about it.

The front half of the shoe was white, but the back half was black.

"I found this in one of the corners."

* * *

The big question is: Do you think that Hermione made the right decision? Is it better to marry someone you love under pressure or is it better to break their heart to buck the system? What do you think?

Next chapter, we kick into action!

What do you think of Parvati's disappearence? Was it planned like Dean's? Did something happen to her?

Give me any feedback you'd like to discuss!


	12. Fenticula Poratalus

A/N: I've been up and down campus with exams most of the past couple weeks, so please excuse my lateness! Then again, I'm sure you're all used to it by now. This chapter has some action but not as much as I intended. Sometimes you have to wait on the action to add to the storyline. I'm pretty sure the next chapter will be like BOOM! Action! Still, I hope you enjoy this one.

Zarroc- I'm glad that you agree with Hermione getting married. As for Parvati, that person certainly was involved! You'll see what else happens here!

Whimsy007- Thank you for your amazingly kind compliments about the plot and Hermione's character. You are right to say that Harry is slightly out of character. He's not at all my main focus and I tend to drift. Still, there hasn't been much opportunity for Harry to really step in. The case against the Ministry is Hermione's own personal vendetta and Harry really doesn't do research. Harry (as a pureblood) starting a revolution for the rights of muggleborns would be like a man trying to start the revolution for women's rights: It would be appreciated by the party under scrutiny, but it wouldn't be taken seriously by lawmakers because Harry is not part of the group. As for the Colin/Melinda mistake, you caught me red-handed! I meant to have Hermione ask be Colin. Thank you for pointing that out to me! I'm about to fix it now! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Mywayornoway- Short and sweet. Thank you! I hope you like the rest!

Coolgirlc- Padma was there, but she was with her family awaiting Parvati's exit from the tent. Honestly, I just forgot to write her in, but that's my excuse! Haha! Please excuse my poor plot holes! I'd like to think that Lavender has some brains under all that make-up!

Quidditch7- Thanks for the comments about visuals. I never really feel comfort in my descriptions, to be honest. Parvati's captor and Dean's devotions to Parvati will be very evident in this chapter. Honestly, I think you might be further on to my plot than anyone else who has commented so far. Though I must admit, it's really obvious. Or at least, it will be!

A True Dreamer- I'm sorry! I'm a huge fan of evil cliffies! This chapter isn't really a cliff hanger though, so hopefully you'll appreciate that!

Cappygal116- There was a trick to Hermione's situation. She has to be married before the law goes to trial because she is considered a "special interest case." It was discussed in the first chapters, but not much after. You think Parvati planned it? I wish I had thought of that! Sadly, no, that's not the case. You'll get more hints in this chapter!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 12: Fenticula Poratalus

Many of the guests sat in confused, bewildered by the meaning of Parvati's black and white dress shoe. Hermione knew she had not told her parents about this monstrosity that had been transporting itself into their private property through portals, and from the looks of things, Dean and Parvati hadn't told their families either.

Before Hermione even knew what she was doing, she stood up and approached Dean, Seamus and Lavender at the altar. It was a rash move on her part, she could tell by the looks on their faces.

"Keep it down!" Hermione warned Lavender in a hiss. "You're going to cause a panic among the guests, and then things will be even worse."

"We need to search the grounds." A voice sputtered out from behind Hermione. She whirled around to see that Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville were all moving into the group. Now everybody who knew about the man from the portals was present.

"Harry," Dean choked out, "she's not on the grounds. You know it."

Harry looked around anxiously, seeming a little more frustrated than usual. "She could be on the grounds! She could be a few feet away, for all we know!"

"It's all we've got to go on." Ginny's voice was much more gentle than usual, but Hermione understood why. Right after she spoke, Dean's breath heaved. It as hard to grasp that there only option was an improbable one.

"What about the guests?" Lavender spoke up after a lengthy silence.

Ron put a hand on Seamus' shoulder. "It's your job to greet people. Perhaps, you and Lavender can also get them to scatter before joining the search."

"Great." Seamus mumbled. "That way we get to be the bad people."

"Better you than me, I suppose." Ron's cheeky grin earned a glare for Seamus before he moved off toward the crowd.

"We need to search both tents and any surrounding areas that could be dodgy." Harry announced to the group.

"Should we alert Tonks?" Lavender asked in a most concerned of voices.

"Tonks just had a baby, Lavender!" Neville formed a loose fist and tapped it over his head to indicate Lavender's lack of common sense. "She's not exactly out on duty!"

"Well, you go deal with all the other Aurors then!"

Neville shrugged his shoulders and looked as if he were fighting an internal battle for a moment. Finally, he did a little hop and reached for his wand. "I think I will, if you lot don't mind."

Everyone's eyes wandered around the group before they all slowly began nodding in agreement. "Somebody has to tell the Aurors."

Neville apparated away. Seamus looked over to Lavender, motioning toward the crowd waiting for an explanation. They moved into the task wordlessly.

"That leaves five of us." Harry said to the remaining group. "We should search the tents first. I say Ginny and I take Lavender's tent while everyone else searches Dean's tent."

"That's impossible!" Ginny looked at Harry like he was completely out of his mind.

Dean informed Harry of a situation he had just recently learned about himself. "You know how a bride and groom are not supposed to see each other before the wedding ceremony? Wizards actually put enchantments on the doorways of the bride and groom's areas that only allow women to enter the bride's space and men to enter the groom's space."

"Excuse me!" Harry jutted sarcastically. "Being the unmarried muggle-raised man that I am, I should have known better."

Ron clapped his hands together once. "Right! Ladies in tent one and gentlemen in tent two! Let's go!"

He began to walk of toward where Dean had just come from. The other four exchanged odd looks for a second before Dean and Harry ran off after Ron. Hermione began walking toward the other tent, Ginny quick on her heels.

"Does that mean it was a woman who took Parvati, then?" Ginny theorized as they moved quickly to the flowing white tent that looked so beautiful and innocent. "They had to be to get into the bridal tent, wouldn't they?"

"When Lavender was attacked at her wedding, a man spoke to her."

"Perhaps there was a female accomplice?"

"I don't know." Hermione answered in complete honesty. "The enchantment is put on the doorway, but that doesn't necessarily mean it affects the walls, especially in such a flimsy tent."

"The enchantments blocks apparition, though." Ginny pointed out.

Hermione shook her head, wishing that she could whole-heartedly agree with Ginny's theory. There were just too many possibilities. "Portals are different. They aren't a magical source trying to enter the room. They build themselves in a wall of the room and thus become part of the room. To the enchantment, it would be considered the same as somebody in the room performing a charm."

She began to slow down as they edged nearer to the tent. "Plus, portals went out of style so long ago that most protection spells aren't made to detect them."

They stood outside the tent now. The entrance gently flapped in the wind, luring them in. The tent was clean, pure and looked absolutely harmless from the outside.

After a moment of gazing, Hermione ripped back one of the curtains. Everything on the inside looked still. The furnishings of the tent were nicer than that of Hermione's own bedroom. There was a dresser, a vanity, two plush sofas, several arrangements of flowers, and small treats scattered all over.

Parvati must have felt awfully comfortable in there, Hermione thought. She must have never seen it coming.

Hermione and Ginny stepped in at the same time, searching every possible area with their wands. Even though the environment looked safe, they both knew better than to trust it.

"There's nothing here." Ginny said after a few minutes. "I don't think this person was planning on staying."

Hermione heard a crunching noise from beneath her and looked down to see shattered glass. Among a few pieces, she realized there was a thin layer of blood. The empty frame of a full-length mirror lay helplessly next to her.

She looked up at Ginny, then back down to the ground. "There has got to be something here that can help us!" She tried to give Ginny some hope, but it didn't seem to be working. "I mean, why Parvati? Why on her wedding day?"

"Dramatic impact, I suppose." Ginny shrugged, walking over and carefully pushing glass aside so they could reach the corner of the room.

"What exactly happened?" Hermione asked herself aloud. "Why did the mirror break?"

Ginny gulped a little. She reached up and gently traced her hand over the silk fabric at the corner of the tent. "Do you suppose she saw him coming from the side and put up a struggle?"

"What doesn't make sense is that Parvati didn't run at all." Hermione observed. "If she had seen the portal forming right next to her, she would have scurried out in a panic."

"So, she didn't see him at all?"

Hermione moved herself directly in front of the fallen mirror frame where Parvati had been standing not long ago. Trying to stay in position, she looked over her left shoulder. The corner of the room was clearly visible. She then looked over her right shoulder. The tall vanity blocked her view of the tent's upper right corner. Hermione could only see a bit of fabrics near the tent's roof.

Hermione whipped around and pointed at the corner in question. "They must have come from there! Parvati wouldn't have seen it. Then this person came up from behind her."

"Oh Merlin." Ginny seemed to come to a realization. "Parvati mustn't have struggled if she didn't see him. She must have been petrified while she was looking in the mirror." A steady fear grew in her eyes. "Parvati didn't break the mirror. She fell on top of the mirror and it shattered to pieces."

Just when they thought they couldn't panic anymore, the entrance of the tent ripped open with a fierce strangling noise.

"Bloody hell, Lavender!" Ginny swore out. "Are you trying to scare us to death?"

Lavender wasn't in the mood. "Bugger off, Weasley." She mumbled, her eyes rapidly searching every crevice of the room. "Did you find anything yet?"

Even though Hermione found Lavender to be elitist and annoying, she couldn't let Parvati's best friend closely inspect the shattered glass and realize that it was sprinkled with specks of blood. The sight pierced Hermione's heart. She couldn't imagine what it would do to Lavender.

"Only the mirror you told us about." Hermione rambled off quickly before finally getting to her diversion. "We think we know how the person got in, but we have to tell Dean and the others right away or they could be in danger!"

Hermione knew it was a lie. The men were perfectly fine in Dean's tent. There was no immediate danger at all. She also knew hat Lavender didn't know that.

"Oh, hell!" Lavender squealed, clutching her dress robes and racing toward the other tent.

Hermione began running as well, and after a few moments Ginny caught up with her. "Liar." She mouthed. With a shake of her head, she surpassed Hermione's speed and ran ahead.

By the time Hermione came to a stop, Lavender already stood outside the men's tent, screeching for her husband and the other men to come outside immediately.

They didn't come out at all.

"Something's already happened to them." Lavender clenched her hands through her neatly styled hair. "Fuck! What do we do?"

Hermione and Ginny exchanged dire looks. The men weren't really supposed to be in danger. Hermione had made it all up. Even Ginny knew that.

Now it looked as if Hermione and Ginny knew what was going on. They didn't.

Basically, Hermione thought, they were fucked.

"What do we do now?" Lavender began pacing in front of the tent, trying to get a glimpse inside. "What do we do?"

"Stay calm, Lavender." Ginny pleaded with her.

"To hell with calm!" Lavender clutched Ginny's shoulders. "My husband could be dead in there!"

Ginny pushed Lavender away with a mighty shove. "My boyfriend could be dead in there too! My brother as well! It's not all about your precious Seamus, so shove it up your arse!"

Lavender let out an ear-splitting scream. Hermione understood Lavender's frustration, but she just couldn't handle such emotion right now. They needed a plan. Hermione needed to come up with a plan.

Lavender cried blood and murder once again.

Hermione finally snapped and turned to scold her, but something caught her eye. She knew right away why Lavender had been screaming.

A blackened arm protruded out from under the tent only inches away from Lavender's foot.

Hermione put a finger to her lips, urging Lavender to be silent. She alerted Ginny and they formulated a silent plan.

Lavender and Ginny stood on either side of Hermione with their wands pointed at the rogue arm. Hermione posed her hands over the arm, nodding to the other women.

It one quick swoop she grasped the arm and tugged with all her might.

Thankfully, the body came out of the tent easily. The body's owner was not struggling for some reason.

The body was only half-blackened and hairless. Their bottom half was unaffected. Though hard to identify, Hermione could tell by the dress robes that this was one of the men who had ventured off to search the tent.

All three women bent down. Hermione carefully studied the features on the face. He had large ears, a button nose and a strong jaw. Even discolored and hairless, Hermione recognized the face in front of her.

"Ron."

Ginny lifted the bottom of the dress robes to reveal red hair on the body's legs. She nodded rigidly then stood in front of the body, her wand pointed at his forehead. "Ennervate!"

Ron jumped up into a sitting position, gasping and sputtering in his apparent state of panic and confusion.

"Sodding hell! Fuck! Dammit!"

After a moment, he gained his senses back and began observing his surroundings. He looked at Hermione, Ginny, and then down at his own body.

"Shit!" He leapt up on to his feet. "I didn't make it!"

"What?" Lavender questioned.

"I didn't make to through the fucking portal!" Ron cried. "Did they come back? Did you find them?"

Hermione's heart was pumping faster than she ha ever thought it could. Ron had obviously seen something quite terrible and she did not have any solace to offer him.

His skin was graying now. Hermione could almost see the color coming back to his eyes. How long ago had this happened?

"Ron, we don't know where Dean, Seamus and Harry went." Hermione tried to break the news gently, but it still managed to upset Ron very much.

Before Ron had another outburst, teary-eyed Lavender spoke up. "Ron, please. I need to know what happened." She moved until she was looking into Ron's eyes, trying not to flinch at his unusual image. "I need to know what happened."

"I was the last to walk in. He was waiting for us. He was waiting for Dean." Ron told them slowly. "He just started attacking. He hit me with a Confundus charm, I think. Harry fell over and Seamus had ducked behind something, but Dean just stood their and let the damn man take him!"

Ron's eyes raced wildly, making sure that nobody was listening in on their conversation. "Out of nowhere, Harry gets up and starts running to the portal. He was completely off his rocker! The man who took Dean had to chase Harry through the portal with Dean."

Despite tipping his head back, a tear slipped down Ron's cheek. Under the tear, his skin immediately turned back to his original skin color.

"Once the portal started to close, Seamus went in too. I tried to follow him, but I couldn't concentrate. I could barely walk straight. I got halfway through the portal before it started closing in on my body. All I could feel was this tremendous pressure." He blinked away another tear. "I don't remember anything after that, really."

Hermione couldn't believe it. She hadn't been far at all, but she hadn't heard the commotion. Now, she had no way to reach them. They were in a void that Hermione could not reach.

"Was that all?" Ginny asked.

"I heard something." The thought seemed to come into Ron's head just as he spoke. "It was so faint. I think it was "Fenti poratalus" or something like that."

"Fenti poratalus?" Lavender scrunched her nose in confusion. "I wonder if that would be anything like Fenticula apparatus."

Hermione snapped her head in Lavender's direction. She'd never heard of such a spell. There were very few spells that Hermione hadn't heard of before. "What are you talking about?"

"Seamus told me about it during his Auror training." Lavender explained. "It's an Auror's charm used to follow suspects when they apparate. You stand exactly where the suspect stood and say 'Fenticula apparatus' and you're immediately transported to where they apparated. Of course, you repeat the incantation after you've reached the destination. Otherwise anybody who stood on the original point of apparation would automatically apparate to the destination."

Hermione thought to herself. She had held that incantation during the war, but she didn't know what it meant. Perhaps it originally came from portals. "So you're saying this could happen with portals?"

"I don't have a bloody clue!" Lavender snorted.

"Maybe he was closing the portal so nobody could get through." Ginny suggested. "We need to try it out."

"We can't try anything here." Ron reminded Ginny. "We wouldn't be able to stick together because I can't get into one tent and you girls couldn't get into the other."

"Ron, you could always stay and-"

"There is no way in hell you are going without me!"

Ginny was taken aback by Ron's fierce anger. It was obvious that he felt obligated to help his friends just as much, if not more than Ginny did. He had seen everything unfold before his very eyes. He knew Harry's temperament and Seamus' defensive nature, but what seemed to scare him most was Dean's desperation.

Lavender cleared her throat awkwardly, moving closer to them. "We'll go to my house, then. We know exactly where the portal was in my house."

Before the idea was discussed any further, Ron had already apparated away. Hermione looked to the other women, shrugged, and apparated to the home Lavender shared with Seamus.

When they all apparated into the bedroom, Ron was eager to try opening the portal. His wand was outstretched toward the corner of the wall and his eyes were clenched tight.

"Fenti poratalus!"

Nothing happened. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny waited with baited breath, but Lavender grew exhausted after only a moment.

"I told you, Ron!" Lavender grunted out. "It would be 'Fenticula poratalus' not 'Fenti poratalus!' How daft are you?"

"I heard 'Fenti!'" Ron argued, trying to keep his composure.

Lavender shook her head. "Well, that didn't do you any good, did it?"

She pointed her wand quite leisurely toward the wall and yelled "Fenticula poratalus!"

Ever so slowly, a hole in the wall started to open up and orb out into the shape of a portal. Hermione couldn't believe it. She had just witnessed Lavender Brown doing something that required intelligence.

Lavender bunched up her robes, took an over-exaggerated breath and stormed into the portal. They all followed quickly behind her, Ron grumbling "I hate it when she's right."

As soon as she entered the portal, Hermione felt her head spin. It was the nauseating light, sound and pressure of apparition, but prolonged. Needless to say, Hermione began rushing through the portal with the others. With the awkward pain she was feeling, she could have cared less what dangers lay on the other end of the portal.

Her head was about to explode. She couldn't breathe. The world around her was falling apart in a short time. She could see the other end of the portal inching nearer, but it just wasn't enough.

Then everything went black.

It took Hermione a moment to realize that she was not fainting or falling into an abyss. Instead, she was slowly regaining her strength. Her breathing steadied and her eyes began adjusting to her surroundings.

"Fenticula… poratalus." A breathless voice spoke from right next to her.

Hermione moved to her right. There was a person standing next to her. She tilted backward and clanked heads with another person. "Ow!" Ron responded. "Watch it!" In front of her, something hard, cold, and a bit slimy stood. It was a wall.

"Where are we?" Lavender's childish voice cried out.

"In a closet, you twit!" Ginny spat back in a harsh whisper. "Now keep it quiet before something bad happens to you!"

Lavender sighed. "Like this isn't bad enough."

Hermione finally regained her strength. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand, doing what was she expected everyone else to do ages ago.

"Lumos!"

Everyone gasped. Hermione had almost forgotten the effects of the portal. She examined the others followed by her own body. Their skin and eyes were as dark as the night. Their hair was non-existent.

"Oh, this is vile!" Lavender let out a painful whisper.

Hermione tried to ignore her image and focus on the dangers that many be surrounding her. The closet was tiny and there was nothing inside but the three witches and a wizard that barely fit.

Her eyes adjusted to the light more and she finally found their escape. A tiny wooden door stood to her left.

"Shut up!" she whispered in urgency.

Everyone who had been exchanged whispers seemed shocked by this command and immediately grew silent.

"There's a door down here. I'm going to open it and see if I can see anything happening outside."

Hermione bent down slowly, forcing Ron and Lavender to push their bodies up against the wall to give her more space. She clutched the doorknob with care then gave it a quarter turn.

The doorknob let out a squeak and everyone in the closet held their breath.

When a few moments had passed and nobody seemed to come investigating the squeak, Hermione begin to carefully turn the knob again.

The latch clicked and Hermione pulled the door toward her, leaving just enough space for her eyes to peer outside.

Hermione immediately recognized the building. The lavish walls, the symbols painted on them, the whizzing papers and the busy feet scurrying about.

She calmly shut the door, picked herself up off the ground, and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Ron begged her for answers. "Where are we?"

"We're in the Ministry."

* * *

Holy plot point, Batman!

The next chapter will be better. Parvati's condition will be revealed. We'll finally see what happened to Harry, Dean, and Seamus. If the plot moves along well, we'll probably find out who this myserious kidnapper is!

I know you all have your predictions, but things aren't always what they may seem. Tell me! Who is our mystery man?

Other than that, feel free to give me any feedback about the chapter, the characters, or ask me questions!


	13. Redhanded Trespasses

A/N: I'm SO SORRY. I have no excuse for this chapter being terribly late. I had writer's block, plain and simple. I knew what was going to happen, but I wasn't sure how it was going to happen. I meant to get all the action done with in this chapter, but it just got so long and messy that it will end up spilling over into the next chapter. Hopefully, I'll finish the next chapter sooner. Thanks for being so patient!

Zarroc- You bet. You won't find out who in this chapter, but you will in the next!

Quidditch7- Corrupt indeed! But who is the corrupt one? I'm let you linger over the insane possibilities. I'm glad the last chapter was your favorite. Sadly, this one isn't up to par. Hopefully, you still enjoy it!

Coolgirlc- Eeeh… I wouldn't say that Lavender is smart, but she has her moments. I think she was average in school, but Hermione tends to play her off as stupid because of situations in the past. Don't worry about Ron. J.K. Rowling has put him through much more than I have!

Ginnyweasleyrules- Thank you! I'm trying to keep the mystery man a secret! There's a BIG hint in this chapter, but it's a bit misleading. I hope that when you find out who this man is, you'll be happy with the outcome!

Cappygal116- Thanks! You gotta love homework, huh? I've had a ton of it myself. If you think it's bad now, wait until college!

ATrueDreamer- You won't find out much here, but now you'll be a step closer to finding out.

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 13: Red-handed Trespasses

"How is this possible?" Lavender whined. "The Ministry prides itself on the highest level of security!"

The blackened image Hermione knew to be Ron snorted. "You actually believe what the Ministry says?"

Lavender grumbled out an excuse while Ron snickered.

"It doesn't matter!" Ginny reminded them. "We have to get out there and find the others!"

"We can't leave here looking like this!"

Ron was right. They were sure to be noticed if they walked out of the closet. The Aurors would be out looking for them then. With the description Ron had given the Aurors, Hermione was sure the Aurors would expect them to be the criminals.

Lavender growled out before Hermione could reason out the whole situation. "We can't just sit here until we look normal again!"

"The Aurors will be after us." Hermione mumbled, seeming very detached from her surroundings. She was stuck inside her own mind, trying to make sense of the situation.

"To hell with the Aurors!" Lavender said through gritted teeth. "I want to find my husband and kill whoever took him from me!"

Hermione had never heard such a powerful statement from Lavender before and found herself in a bit of shock. Still, she could understand the protective rage that overtook Lavender.

"Do you know how enormous the Ministry is?" Ron gawked at Lavender. By the dim wand light, Hermione could just barely see the blue in his eyes and the pinks in his lips as his skin began graying. "They could be anywhere."

"Not to mention that the Ministry of Magic has more employees than any other magical corporation in the whole of Britain." Ginny asked in extreme distress. Hermione could tell that she too was anxious to save the others.

"If this person even works in the Ministry, that is."

Lavender banged her head up against the wall behind her and let out a frustrated cry. "We need a plan! Think!"

"Fuck plans!" Ron shouted much too loud for comfort. Hermione's knees buckled. On was acting rash again, so she knew everything could take a turn for the worst. "Here a plan for you: put your hood up, tilt your head down, and put your hands inside your sleeves."

With that said, Ron knelt down and yanked open the door. His hood up and his sleeves tucked in, he swiftly bent and squeezed through the doorway.

Hermione held her breath, waiting to see what would happen. Nobody in the hall seemed to find Ron's behavior unusual. He walked down with his head bowed as if he were in prayer and nobody dared to disturb them.

After peeking through the door and seeing this, Ginny set one foot outside the extremely small door. "Good thing we're all wearing long dress robes, then."

Ron had stopped in the corner of the hallway and waiting as inconspicuously as possible while the others made their way out. They began walking through the corridors in a tight group. Hermione knew it was only a matter of time before someone sounded the alarm. They had to act quickly.

"Where are we going?" Ginny whispered to the others.

She was answered with silence. Hermione racked her brain. Finally, she realized what had been in front of her the entire time. "The closet! Ron, we need to search the closet on the second floor!"

"What closet?" Lavender asked.

"What floor are we on now?" Ron answered Hermione rather than Lavender.

"I don't know!"

In frustration, Ron snatched up a piece of parchment as it flew by his hand then pulled his hand back into his sleeve.

"What floor are we on?" Ron harshly questioned the enchanted parchment.

"Nine!" The parchment squealed out in anguish.

"Ron!" Hermione chided him. "You going to get us caught! You can't just go clobbering memos as they fly by!"

"They're enchanted!" Ron shot back. "It's not like I hurt them!"

Ginny was beginning to shake with anxiety under her robe. "Oh shut up! Just get to the stairs and get down there!"

Hermione headed the group, trying to keep a steady pace on the stairs. If they moved too quickly, it was certain to cause suspicion. Still, Hermione wanted nothing more than to speed down the stairs and find her friends.

After what felt like hours of mindless stepping, they had finally reached the second floor. Now where was the closet?

Hermione mentally raced through the halls, trying to pinpoint the location of the closet. After she had ran to get Ron, had she taken a left turn or a right turn?

Suddenly, it came bursting back into her memory.

"This way!" She whispered excitedly, rushing down one of the halls so quickly that Ginny and Lavender, who had never seen the mysterious storage closet before, could barely keep up with her.

A long corridor and a few sharp turns later, Hermione was jiggling restlessly at the door handle. The door was locked, only heightening her suspicions.

Before Hermione had a chance to pull out her wand, Lavender had already done so.

"Alohamora!" Lavender called out. Hermione turned the door handle once again. Nothing happened. "Alohamora!" Still nothing.

Lavender began rapidly tapped her wand against the door handle. "What the hell kind of lock is this?" She yelled much louder than she should have. "Why isn't the 'Alohamora' spell working?"

Ginny clenched Lavender wrist in an attempt to stop her from making a scene, but it was too late. The crowded hallway was staring at them in confusion.

"Who are they, mummy?" A little boy asked his twig of a mother as the passed by.

The mother cleared her throat nervously. "The maintenance group, I believe." She told him uneasily. "They're hags, I think. Move along now!"

"I'll show you hags!" Lavender mumbled viciously, but resisted the urge to turn around.

Hermione knew they had to get into the closet quickly. Thankfully, she also knew that this was the same locking charm that she had used on that very door weeks ago. The criminal had stolen her charm! How rude! How odd.

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and mumbled the incantation that would unlock the door. When she finally heard a soft click, she knew that it had finally worked. She grabbed a hold on the door handle and wrenched the door open.

"What the hell was that?" Ron asked as he passed through the door.

"Later." Hermione barely managed to get the words out. She was too focused on the room she had just entered.

The room had been torn to shreds again, but it wasn't the same as the last time she had been in it. The shelves and floors were not filled with various papers and trinkets. It was filled with orbs that looked like crystal balls. A few were shattered to pieces on the ground and oozing a fluorescent purple liquid.

"What happened to all the papers that were here before?" Ron asked, squinting his eyes so he could see to the end of the very long room.

"I dunno." Hermione gulped down hard, trying to keep her fear from rising up. "Do you think the papers were really there?"

"We saw them, didn't we?"

Ginny crouched down next to a broken glass ball. "But did you touch the papers?"

Ron let out an awkward growling noise from deep in his throat. "Well, no." He knelt down next to Ginny. "So you're saying it was some type of concealment charm?"

"If somebody knew you were coming, yeah!" Ginny quipped. "It's obvious that this would be suspicious to you. Even you're not that daft!"

Ron gave Ginny a sharp look, but seemed to cool down rather than pick a fight. This surprised Hermione, but she supposed it was because Ron knew there were much more important matters at hand.

"I suppose a room full of crystal balls would be a bit dodgy."

"They're not crystal balls." Lavender injected into conversation. She had been staring hard into one of the orbs for a while, but Hermione really hadn't noticed until Lavender had spoken. "There's no mist inside, just this liquid. My inner eye can't connect with it."

Hermione scoffed off the ridiculous notion of Lavender being able to see into the future. "Lavender, your inner eye-"

"Don't be jealous because I did better than you in Divination, Hermione. It's not your fault you don't have the right aura."

"Oh, piss off!"

"Shut up! Both of you!" Ginny snapped from her place on the cold, stone floor. "Hermione, Lavender spent about four years straight staring into a crystal ball, so she knows that's not a crystal ball. Lavender, Hermione along with the majority of witches and wizards believes Divination to be a bunch of bullocks. Get used to it. Now both of you try to figure out what the hell is happening here!"

Ginny's rant had taken Hermione back a step. While in her heart she felt insulted and her pride felt wounded, she knew Ginny's temper was on a short leash. The slight rivalry that Hermione had formed against Lavender set that temper loose and they were attacked.

Hermione watched in silence as Ron reached his hand down toward the ooze.

"Don't touch it!" Ginny warned Ron in an urgent tone. "It could be poison for all you know!"

"How are we supposed to know what it is?"

"We have to test it." Hermione suggested as she searched around the room. After realizing that shelves cluttered with glass orbs were all she could find, she picked out an isolated, unbroken orb on the floor. Within seconds, she had turned it into a mouse.

"Eeeek!" Lavender squealed, backing up into the corner of the room. "Why a mouse? I hate mice!"

"Oh, keep your panties dry!"

Everyone watched closely as Hermione moved the mouse through the air and gently placed him in a puddle of purple goo. It waded around for a moment, trying to familiarize itself with the strange substance of which it was now stuck inside. It sniffed the glowing liquid before taking a few curious licks.

Hermione waited to see whether or not the mouse would be affected. After a minute, nothing had happened, but then the mouse began to twitch its whiskers furiously. Hermione's stomach jumped and she feared the worst.

The mouse leapt up, sneezed out a purple glittery substance and scurried out of the puddle and under the shelves.

"That's poisonous, all right." Ron jested as he reached for the substance once again. "We may get sick, die… we may even sneeze out purple bogies."

"That's the last time I try to save your life!" Ginny shot back.

Ron inched closer and closer to the ooze until a fingertip on his right hand hit it and the liquid rippled.

Without warning, Ron's fingertip turned a warm peach colour. It ran up his hand, passed his wrist and engulfed his arm. Soon it reached his head. On his right side, his skin turned pale, his hair grew out fiery red and his eye turned blue, leaving Hermione with the horrifying split-second image of Ron's face half normal, half deadly black.

Before Hermione could even try to explain what was happening, Ron's whole body had turned back to the way it was before he had entered the portal. Ron was in awe. He carefully studied the top of his hands, and then flipped them over to study the palms.

"Does this mean that they're not disguised anymore?" Ron asked in a meek voice.

Lavender pushed him away from the purple goo on the floor. "Do you think?" she grumbled back sarcastically, shoving her own hand into the liquid. Still with a bit of reluctance, Hermione and Ginny followed suit.

"Now where the hell did they go?" Lavender questioned when she stood up once again and began searching every visible crevice in the room.

Ginny let out a little cough. "I already looked, Lav. The only door in here is the one we came in through."

"That's impossible!" Lavender threw her hands up in frustration. "Somebody would have seen them! They wouldn't just let this man take them, especially after they knew who he was!"

Hermione tried her best to gulp down her idea on the subject, but it slipped out anyway. "Maybe they went with the captor because of who he was."

The thought was not debated. A painful squeaking interrupted all of their minds. Hermione knew none of her friends were the squeaking type, thus made her way over to the shelf she had seen the mouse run under a few moments ago.

"If that thing is dead, I'm going to kill you." Lavender gritted her teeth at Ron.

"Well, if I was going to die anyway, committing murder wouldn't matter much anyway now would it?" Ron pointed out. He looked under the shelf, popped back up and clutched his hands onto the shelf. "I suggest you lot move back."

With that said, Ron pushed the shelf backwards, letting out a harsh grunt as he did so.

The mouse wasn't there.

"What the-"

Hermione heard the noise again, a much softer squeak of a mouse. She knelt down on all fours and put her ear to the floor. She heard a squeak again.

"It's below the floor." Hermione told the others.

Lavender's face crunched up in confusion. "Wouldn't it just be on the first floor then?"

"I don't know." Hermione admitted. "I can only hear the mouse, nothing else."

Ginny tapped her floor on the stone and a strange echo reverberated up to them. "That's just not right."

"Now we just have to figure out what it is."

Slowly, the whole group pulled out their wands and aimed them at the seemingly normal patch of cold, gray stone.

"Fenticula apparatus!" Silence.

"Accio!" Nothing.

"Evanesco!" Still nothing.

"Alohamora!" Without warning, a large slab of the stone collapsed at Hermione feet, almost taking her down with it.

Ginny's eyes darted from her wand to the hole in the floor. "I really didn't expect Alohamora to work!"

"What is this?" Hermione heard Lavender say as she stared down the hole. "A secret passage?"

"Of course! The Ministry must have hundreds!" Hermione felt her adrenaline begin to pump once again as she felt herself getting closer to solving the mystery. "This must be the way they went!"

"But we don't know what the hell could be down there!" Lavender protested. "We don't even know how deep it is? There's got to be another way."

"Oh, shut up." Ginny grumbled as she sat down and stuck both legs through the narrow opening. "If it didn't kill a baby mouse, it won't kill you."

Ginny's bright red hair flew up in the air as she plummeted down into the passageway. Hermione listened intensely until she heard a thunk.

"It's not that deep at all!" Ginny's voice carried upwards. "Come on, then! Hurry up!"

Without hesitation, Hermione leaped forward and fell freely for a few moments before clumsily hitting the ground and falling onto her side. She got up and called for Lavender to come down.

They were on the final leg of their journey. Hermione could feel it. It was now time to discover if they would be heroes… or if they would be too late.

Ron was the last to clunk down into the corridor with walls of dirt. They began a steady hike through the tunnel with their wands lit and ready to attack. Hermione couldn't tell whether they were moving in any certain directions. Sometimes she felt as if she were climbing upward, sometimes she was stumbling downward.

Hermione began to falter and Lavender vivaciously took the lead. She kept expecting a trap to engulf under and send her to St. Mungo's but nothing came their way. The man who created the tunnel obviously did not expect anyone to find it. Hermione was lucky that confidence was this man's weakness.

"Oomph!"

Lavender had hit the wall. Literally.

"The tunnel just ends?" She gawked. "It can't just end!"

Hermione went over to the wall and examined it with her bright wand light. There was no sign of a door. There were no notches, no strange discolorations.

Ginny let out a strangled cough, pointed her wand at the center of the wall, and cried out "Alohamora!"

Nothing happened.

"Sorry, mates." Ginny shrugged and forced a crooked smile to spread across her lips. "I just I just had beginner's luck last time." Ginny banged her fist against the wall. There was no hollow echo. "If only Bill were here! Cursebreakers can break down anything in two seconds flat."

"We don't need a cursebreaker." Ron replied casually. "Look up!"

Hermione lifted her wand up toward the ceiling, but there was no ceiling there. Instead, there lay a wooden trap door.

"Great." Lavender whined. "We have to climb. How the hell are we supposed to climb up there?"

Hermione stopped. She hadn't thought of that herself. They were far too heavy to levitate themselves. There had to be another way.

"We're supposed to use this, I think." Ginny said. Hermione turned around to see Ginny gripping a filthy brown vine covered in small thorns on the wall to their right. They had been so busy searching the walls in front of them that they had not looked on either side of it.

"How did this person manage to get Parvati, Dean, Seamus and Harry out to climb up this thing?" Ron questioned, gently running his fingers over some of the thorns.

Hermione gulped. "He must have convinced them somehow. He might have forced them."

"Sod it!" Lavender decided. "It doesn't matter how they got up there. All that matters is that they still could be up there!"

Lavender grabbed hold of the rope and attempted to pull herself up with only her arms. After moving only inches with her first few pulls, Lavender squeezed her legs around the thick vine. After attempting one more pull, she fell to the ground, her hands and thighs slowly leaking blood.

"I can't do it." Lavender cried as she writhed on the ground. "It hurts too much."

There was a long pause in the darkness while everyone tried to think of a better solution.

Ron twitched his head to the left and grunted as if he had made a difficult decision. "Just get on my back." He said, motioning for Lavender to come over by him. He then looked to Hermione and Ginny. "Do you think you can handle this?"

Hermione looked up again. Though her hands hurt at the sight of the thorns, the vine was not terribly long. She could heal herself and the others one she reached the top. There were more important matters at hand.

Ron hoisted Lavender onto his back and began pulling them up the vine, letting out rough grunts the whole way. Once he had gained a good distance, Hermione fearfully placed her own hands on the vine. She tried to keep a loose grip as she began climbing, but she could still feel blood oozing from her hands and legs.

A loud banging noise could be heard as Ron pushed open the trap door. The rope shimmied as Ron and Lavender climbed out and Ginny began to climb.

It felt like hours by the time Hermione had reached the top of the rope. She hadn't heard any yelling from either Ron or Lavender, so she took that as a good sign. However, they hadn't told her that everything was safe either.

In a leap of faith, Hermione sprawled her arms across the floor, lifted her legs, and rolled herself into the room.

She had expected everything to be safe and sound. She was wrong.

In the four corners of the room, four unconscious bodies dangled from chains. Lavender was hastily throwing out spells to awaken Seamus, but nothing seemed to be working. Ron broke the chains on Dean and began attempting the same thing.

Hermione decided it would be best if she tried to find a powerful spell that would bring them to their senses. She was about to run to Harry, but Ginny had run over to him in a panic as soon as she managed to clamber up the rope. Thus, Hermione made her way over to Parvati.

Her head pounded as she tried to find a solution to the problem. She reminded herself that she needed to relax over and over again. Logic did not combine well with stress. Still, nothing came to mind.

What other spell besides "Ennervate" could revive the unconscious without sending them into shock?

Out of nowhere, Hermione heard the down behind her open and shut. "What the bloody hell happened in here?"

Hermione whipped around and was about to scream out a stunning spell when she froze in place. Her wand was pointing directly in the face of Neville Longbottom.

"Merlin, Hermione! Put that thing down!"

As Hermione lowered her wand, feeling a bit shameful, Ron stood up. "How did you end up in here? Why aren't you with the Aurors?"

"The Aurors went off to the park and told me to wait." Neville explained. "A little while later, some bloke came up to me and said they'd captured the man. He said that Harry and Ginny where in the Minister's headquarters waiting for me! So I came up here!"

"Some bloke?" Ginny gushed out in anger. "You just took the word of 'some bloke?'"

Neville took a step back. "I thought he was an Auror. So… yeah, I suppose I did."

"Wait!" Hermione interrupted the argument with a much more important piece of information that Neville had mentioned. "Did you just say you went to the Minister's headquarters? We're in the Minister's office?"

Neville did not get a chance to answer.

The door behind him slammed once again, a stream of light shot out of a wand, and Neville fell to the ground.

* * *

Oy! What a way to end the chapter! I figured that this is better than writing a massive chapter that explains everything all at once. What do you think?

There are only TWO more chapters left!

Remember, the situation seems really suspicious, but not everything is as it seems! I'll give you a hint: The man is not a main character! In fact, in the worl of the Harry Potter books he is barely even mentioned. Expect the unexpected!


	14. Running From The Truth

A/N: Sorry it took so long! I've got finals going on at my university. It's looooads of fun I tell you! Also, I've recently started working as a news poster at so I've been dedicating lots of my time toward that. This chapter is a bit short because it's really an extension of the last chapter, but here it is! Enjoy!

Ginnyweasleyrules- Poor Neville! However, not too bad has happened to him so far, so this is his first big blow. Don't worry! You'll see what happened to him in this chapter!

Zarroc- Good question. What did happen? Find out!

Shana- I'm sorry that this took me forever to update, especially with the cliffhanger. Hopefully this chapter will give you the answers you're searching for!

Cappygal116- Yes, the next chapter is the end. Sorry to disappoint. As you can tell, I haven't been concentrating on it as much as I'd planned to, so it's best to bring it to an end. I'm so glad that you've like it, though!

Coolgirlc- Sorry to test your patience! Actually, this character was referred to in the book but never actually given a name. It's a VERY obscure reference. I love the theory, however. I wish I had thought of that myself, even though I don't think Percy is really evil.

Quidditch7- You are far too kind. This is not even close to JKR material. I only wish I was that talented! I'm really glad this is keeping you on your toes, it's meant to be unpredictable. However I'm afraid people will be disappointed with this chapter. It's definitely not my best. Still, give it a shot!

The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.

Chapter 14: Running From The Truth

Hermione went to scream, but her voice got caught in her throat when the light died down and she finally saw the person that struck down Neville.

"What the hell are you doing?" She cried out in anger.

"What is necessary."

Among the chaos, Hermione could see his sleek robes, his shaggy lion's mane and his feverish yellow eyes. He stood hunched in place without as much as a grimace on his face, still pointing his wand at the spot where Neville once stood.

It was Rufus Scrimgeour.

Ginny abandoned Harry for a moment. Hermione could see the warm, lively color of Harry's flesh, but Neville was sheet-white and frozen. Ginny clasped on to Neville's body and flipped him around. Crimson blood flowed freely from his nose.

"No!" Ginny squealed. "Neville, wake up! Please wake up!"

"You bastard!" Lavender, who had been quiet until that moment, screamed out in a fury. She stood up and forced her wand out of her back pocket. Her mouth opened to scream out a curse or jinx, perhaps. Hermione would never know. Before the words came out, the Minister whipped his wand toward her and she slumped against the wall next to her dear husband.

In a panic, Ginny slapped Neville across the face. "Please, Neville! Don't do this!"

Hermione longed to rush over to Lavender and do the same thing, but she knew that any sudden movements would render her completely helpless, unconscious on the floor. Is this what had happened to all of them? Why then did Harry seem more alive than Neville?

"They're not dead, you fool!" Scrimgeour snapped in Ginny's direction. "There are very obvious signs of the killing curse, none of which the Aurors will ever be able to find. If they knew 'Avada Kedavra' was used, it would never look like an accident."

"What accident?" Ron said in a strong yet very cautious voice. He too did not move from his place.

"The one you're going to die in after I leave you all petrified and tear apart this office."

Her interactions with the Minister over the last few months went racing through her head. It all fit together so well. It was so obvious that he was up to something. Why hadn't she seen it?

"You're doing all this just to protect that bloody law?"

The Minister growled and began grinding his foot into the wooden floor. "Do you know what you've put me through, mudblood?" He yelled out. Ron began to stand up but Ginny desperately motioned for him to sit down again and he did. "When I came into office, the whole community supported me! I had Lord Voldemort within my controls until you and your renegades came barging into the picture."

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Renegades? Harry destroyed Lord Voldemort. It was all part of the prophecy!"

"To hell with prophecies! They mean nothing!" Scrimgeour retorted. "You turned my people against me! You hid the information on the horcruxes and destroyed them without the help of trained Aurors! You defeated Lord Voldemort and thus you destroyed me! I became a joke to the wizarding community. One little muggleborn ruined my career!"

"It wasn't just her!" Ron pointed out. His voice was angry and he gritted his teeth, as if he were trying to avoid the using colorful language. "She was working with Harry and me! Your crusade against muggleborns is pointless!"

Scrimgeour stopped moving. He pivoted to face Ron, his foot still grinding on the floor. Hermione could see the splinters around his boots.

"I know you, Weasley." He said in a soft voice that inflicted more fear in Hermione than when he had been yelling. "You're thick, as is Harry Potter. Neither of you could have worked your way through the complex magical reasoning it took to destroy the horcruxes without Hermione Granger! You were worth nothing!"

"I almost died!" Ron bellowed so loudly that it echoed throughout the room. Couldn't somebody hear them? Why weren't the Aurors there?

Hermione expected the Minister to petrify Ron right there, but he didn't. Instead, he gave him a chilling smirk. "Well, that never would have happened if Miss Granger hadn't been there. You would have just stared at the paper found with the first horcrux for days before handing it over to the trained professionals at the Ministry."

Ginny, who had been holding back tears for a long while, finally let a few water droplets roll down her cheek. "You're pathetic! You can't get rid of every person who chooses to work without the Ministry! This will never work!"

A flash of light flew out of Scrimgeour's wand and Ginny slumped over on to Neville's torso.

Ron made a gagging noise but did not move. Hermione feared it would be the last time she saw the light in Ginny's eyes.

"You're wrong!" Scrimgeour yelled at Ginny's slouched figure. "I don't mind being outdone, but by a muggleborn? It's against the laws of nature! Magical people should have the outstanding magical abilities! If muggleborns don't want to represent the magical community, then I'll make them!"

"That's why you made this law." Ron stated. His eyes had not left Ginny's body since the light struck her.

Hermione wasn't ready to die. She had been stalling, but she was running out of effective ways to do so. She and Ron had to manage to stay awake, otherwise there would be no hope for them or any of the others.

"What about the half-bloods?" Hermione asked desperately. Sharp pains attacked her throat as she choked on the words. "They're part of the magical community! Why are you doing this to them?"

"Filth!" The Minister proclaimed. "Having mudblood witches and wizards running our world is bad enough! Having one parent with no magical ability whatsoever is an abomination! Part of them is prestigious wizards' blood! They should be proud to turn away from their muggle heritage and take on life as an honorable part of the wizarding community!"

"That makes no sense." To Hermione's disbelief, she did not get these words out first. Ron did. She wasn't the only one who found flaws in Scrimgeour's explaination. "Halfbloods won't just forget about their muggle family members because they married a witch or wizard! We'd have died out without the muggles to begin with!"

Hermione had heard this in the past. She knew that there was a large number of halfbloods in the wizarding world. She also knew that there were more halfbloods than there were purebloods. In fact, Hermione wasn't sure whether The Minister himself was a complete pureblood.

"It's not ethical." Hermione said aloud. She had already known this, but now she saw it through a larger frame of mind. "There's no way this could have passed through the Wizengmot or the Department of Muggle Relations! What did you do to those people?"

"It won't matter once we're dead." The Minister announced in a calm, straightforward tone.

"Once we're dead?" Ron repeated, emphasizing the odd part of the sentence.

Ron received no true answer, but as another flash of light bombarded the room and the Minister fell like a heavy piece of timber, Hermione suddenly understood.

"Oh hell."

"What the hell was that?" Ron hollered out in astonishment. "What the fuck is going on?"

As Ron's minor fit came to an end, a heavy boot clunked into the room. Thick black robes skimmed across the dust on the floor. A looming figure hovered over the motionless body of Rufus Scrimgeour. His hood covered most of his face, but Hermione could see pale gray eyes.

Who was this man? Why had he used the Minister in his plot? Since he had obviously made up Scrimgeour's motivation, what was this man's real motivation?

The man did not say a word. Hermione could not even hear him breathing as his reached upward and grasped his hood. With a quick jerk of the cloth, the hood fell back and the face that haunted Hermione for months now was finally revealed.

"Quimby?" Ron gawked from across the room.

Hermione gritted her teeth. "His name is Quisley, Ronald." Despite the fact that they were still in danger, Hermione let out a small sigh of relief once she knew the identity of the perpetrator. The last thing she wanted to do was to anger a possible psychopath and die even faster.

"Does it really matter at this point?" Ron's voice began to squeak with panic.

"You do not know my real name." The man Hermione had known as the Minister's Assistant named Quisley told them in a slow, calculating voice. "You never will know."

His wand hand began to rise up slowly. He was torturing them with anticipation and Hermione knew it. She had to find a clever way to stall. What kind of questions would a man like this answer without getting angry?

"So, you're a Death Eater then?" Hermione grimaced as she spoke, trying not to spit out the words in a combination of fear and anger. "Is this your revenge on behalf of Voldemort?"

"Death Eaters are weak fools!" His voice boomed. "They do not work for their own causes, but for the causes of the Dark Lord. They are blinded into following only his instructions. I stand alone."

"And what causes are you working toward?"

"The security of the wizarding world." He answered quite simply. No further explanation came to them. "You've gotten in the way of my cause for far too long."

"They're going to catch you." Ron growled in a husky voice. "They're going to catch you whether you like it or not. They're going to throw you in Azkaban and leave you to rot."

Hermione clenched her eyes tightly and pressed her knees against her body. She already knew what was about to happen.

The bright flash of light could be seen through her closed eyelids. The loud thumping noise could easily be heard as Ron slumped over on to the floor.

Hermione was alone. She was their only hope for survival.

"What did we do?" Hermione cried out in a panic. "What did we ever do to you?"

"You stood in my way."

Hermione Granger, the most brilliant witch in the history of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, let a tear slip down her cheek as she sat huddled in a corner, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of her friends. All was lost.

"Dear, dear." The man sighed in the most unsympathetic voice Hermione had ever heard. He began to walk toward her and slowly crouched down by her side. "It's better this way. All your hardships will be gone soon."

He reached his hand up and caressed her face. Hermione recoiled at the feeling of his touch. It made her skin burn with rage.

Suddenly, she knew what she needed to do.

"Incarcerous!"

The thin white rope came shooting out of Hermione's wand faster than she expected and she felt herself being thrown back. The man had put his guard down. He hadn't expected it at all.

Hermione knew that the ropes could be broken quite easily. If she was going to escape, she had to do it now.

Leaping up, she regained her balance and ran for the door. She could hear the man grunting and struggling behind her. Doing everything in her power not to turn around, Hermione ripped open the door and began her escape.

Once outside the door, she hesitated. Should she seal the door and run for help? No, she decided. She'd rather be in danger than let her friends die just because she sealed them in a room with a murderer.

Leaving the door alone, she rushed down the hall, screaming for help. After only a few steps, she heard the door burst open with such force that it must have been torn to splinters.

Bodies lay scattered on the floor throughout the hallway. Hermione felt sick as she leapt over the raggedy body of Kingsley Shacklebolt. The Aurors had come for them, but the man had been in the hallway, stunning every single one that came to the scene.

Now, he was coming after her.

Hermione was relieved because she had insured the safety of her friends, but she still had to worry about herself. If she never managed to find help, her whole escape would have been pointless.

A shot of light crashed into the wall behind her just as Hermione turned the corner. She could feel a heavy wind as a chunk of the wall zoomed by her ear.

Her body was starting to wear out. Her chest heaved and she tried to take in as much air as possible as she jetted down the stairs. She didn't know exactly what floor she was on, but she had to find the Aurors Department.

He was getting closer to her. She could almost feel him behind her now. If she hadn't been bouncing all around the hall, she was sure he would have hit her by now.

"Hermione!" A shrill voice called out from a distance.

Hermione looked up to see the figure of a lanky woman in front of her. She tried to make out the details of the woman's face and body, but her eyes had blurred in exhaustion.

"Get down!"

She could barely hear the other woman's words. Her reaction was far too slow. By the time she had turned around to see how close the man was, all she could see was a bright stream of light shooting toward her.

Hermione didn't duck, but she did hit the ground as her world went black.

* * *

The next chapter is the end. That doesn't mean that all is lost!

We'll find out what happened to Hermione and the others and we'll dive deeper into the life of the man!

Be sure to tell me what you think of the chapter! What do you think is going to happen?


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